Triwizard Tournament: Take Two
by Moonlight Ace
Summary: While chasing the last remnants of the Death Eaters still loyal to Voldemort, Harry is unexpectedly thrown back in time to the start of his fourth year of Hogwarts. This time round, things are going to be a little different. Harry/Fleur pairing.
1. Prologue

Hey all, Moonlight Ace here bringing up another story for us all. I kinda just thought of this and said 'hey, may as well' so i'll be working on this at the same time as working on my other fic 'The Wind Beneath His Wings'.

Disclaimer: no matter how much i wish it, i do not own Harry Potter, nor any of its characters. and please R&R everybody, me likes reviews :)

enjoy

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Harry ran up the stairs, shooting Stunning spells at the man in front of him and knocking out cold. He ascended the tower as fast as his legs could carry him and finally made it to the top.

"At last, I see that you have found me Potter," said the sneering figure of a man with a skull mask and black cloak, a sword sheathed at his waist.

"It ends here, Zaara," said Harry quietly, drawing his wand and raising his magical energies to their fullest, revealing his rage. "Because of you, fear has been instilled in the world once more, and because of you my friend has died," he continued, remembering how Hermione had given her life to save his. "And this time, I shall destroy you myself," he roared, shooting a blast of purple fire from his wand at Zaara. Zaara dodged it and tried to slice his head off with the blade. Harry put up a powerful Shield charm, but was shocked when the barrier only slowed the blade, as the barrier was shattered from the attack.

"Impressive, don't you think Potter?" sneered Zaara, channelling his magical reserves through the sword, transforming the blade into a glowing green halberd. "That is the power of the Sword of Slytherin, and it shall be your downfall," he screamed, charging at Harry, his weapon aimed to pierce his heart. Harry quickly stepped aside, allowing Zaara to pierce the wall instead, while he charged a spell to finish it.

"_I'm sorry everyone, but I wasn't strong enough to save her. At least I can save you though,"_ thought Harry, charging a ball of condensed space time energy on the tip of his wand.

"Say goodbye, Potter!" screamed Zaara, rushing at him again, just as Harry hit him with his spell.

"Reprimenda del cielo!" yelled Harry, a dense ball of glowing energy forming at the tip of his wand, which began to swell without leaving the wand.

"Alquilar de serpiente," shrieked Zaara, shooting a venomous line of green energy at the rapidly expanding ball of energy, but to no avail. The attack simply dissipated before hitting the ball, which continued to swell, crushing Zaara and killing him instantly, The ball refused to shrink however, and soon Harry found that he was being pulled into the ball too.

"_Well, at least he's gone. Now everybody can finally be safe,"_ thought Harry, closing his eyes and allowing him to be swallowed by the energy. "_It's just a pity that I couldn't see everybody one last time, but then again, so many people have died. I think it all started back in fourth year, during the Triwizard Tournament," _thought Harry, as he felt the energy hit him. Suddenly, a flash came from his wand and pictures of His fourth year at Hogwarts filled his head, mainly the faces of his three fellow champions, Cedric, Krum and Fleur. Suddenly, the energy focused into a funnel and he felt a jerk somewhere behind his navel, as he suddenly began to zoom through the funnel. Colours flashed by his eyes, and after what seemed like hours he had the feeling of falling of a roof and back into his body, as he woke up in an all too familiar place.

"Dad could've got promotion anytime… he just likes it where he is," said a very familiar voice somewhere above Harry. Harry's heart pounded with shock, as he recognised the voice. But it was the next voice that really made Harry excited.

"Of course he does. Don't let Malfoy get to you Ron," came a quiet voice, a voice that Harry never thought he would hear again. Yet, something seemed a bit off with both voices.

"Him! Get to me! As if!" shouted the first voice, and Harry heard the sound of pastry being squished. Finally overcoming his shock, he began raising his head slowly and almost cried out loud in relief, as he saw his two best friends in the world sitting across from him. Ron, irritated and grumpy looking and Hermione – alive and in Harry's opinion, never looking better. As he looked at his friends more closely, he realised that they looked far younger than they should. At least 6 years younger. Then, Harry noticed where they were, and realisation hit him like a Bat Bogey Hex. They were on the Hogwarts Express, riding towards the magical school for their fourth year. He, Harry Potter, had travelled back in time. And having realised that he had indeed travelled into the past, he did the only sensible thing.

"Oh my bloody god," he whispered, before fainting on the seat.

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ok, so yet again, first chapter isnt anything spectacular, but it needed something of a start so there. it will become better soon, and it will be a pairing but i need a vote on the pairing. will it be:

Harry/Ginny

Harry/Hermione

Harry/Fleur

personally i like Harry/Fleur but i still would love some feed back people.

Translations: Reprimenda del cielo = Heaven's Rebuke

Alquilar de serpiente = Serpent Rend


	2. Return to Hogwarts

Yay, and chapter 2 is up. thankyou so much for everyone for the flood of alerts, favourites, and reviews that have been attacking my email recently. This chapter goes out to Lord Damon Shadowmage for being the first to review my story.

Moonlight Ace is brought to you by the following sponsors... oh wait, we don't have any sponsors :(

enjoy

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Harry came to about 5 minutes later, waking up to see Hermione looking at him anxiously.

"Are you alright Harry, you just passed out all of a sudden," said Hermione, putting the back of her hand on his forehead to check for a fever.

"Is that you Hermione?" asked Harry, sitting up and rubbing his eyes to make sure it wasn't all a dream.

"Yes Harry, I'm right here. Ron went to go talk to Dean and Seamus just before you passed ou- began Hermione, before Harry stood up and pulled her into a hug. She was completely shocked, as he had never done anything like this with her before.

"You don't know how good it is to see you Hermione," whispered Harry, shaking a little as he buried his face in her hair. Hermione could feel him shaking and could tell that, whatever had happened to him had clearly distressed him a great deal. Without hesitation, she brought her arms around him and held him to her until he calmed down. He pulled away after a little while, looking embarrassed and slightly lost.

"I'm sorry about that Mione, I was just really happy to see you," he said, sitting back down, still blushing a little.

"That's alright Harry, I'm glad I could help," she said smiling kindly at him, though inside her heart was pounding. "Did something happen?" she asked, looking at him as he looked around the compartment with surprise.

"No, I just had a nightmare," lied Harry, thinking it would be best if he didn't tell her he was a time traveller just yet. Hermione decided that she wouldn't bother him about it further and suggested that they get changed into their robes. Harry agreed, and left the compartment so that Hermione could change first. He wandered around the train a little bit, wondering if anybody else had travelled back in time with him, or if anybody would know about this. All of a sudden, he stumbled upon the very compartment that Draco Malfoy and his cronies were occupying. Unable to resist the temptation, Harry quietly pulled his wand out, laughing silently at what he was about to do. Suddenly, he caught sight of Ron coming down the train with Dean and Seamus, and signalled them to stay quiet, as they crept over to him.

"Harry, what's going on?" they hissed at him, before he pulled out his wand and jerked his thumb at the compartment. They peered in to it, and their faces broke out into grins. Harry smirked, before he quietly pointed his wand at the group of fourth year Slytherins and muttered a spell. Suddenly, there was a sound like fireworks, and the Slytherins started yelling in panic, as the cabin became alight with multiple little firecrackers were let off under the seats of them. He had to help the other 3 up, as they were all rolling on the floor laughing, and moved back to Dean and Seamus' cabin to get changed.

"Harry, that was wicked mate," grinned Ron, after he had finally calmed down.

"Yeah Harry, what spell was that?" asked Dean, pulling on his robes, wearing the same grin as Ron.

"I'll show you guys sometime," said Harry, also finding it hard to stop smiling at his handiwork. The boys relented eventually, and Ron and Harry went back to their compartment to find Hermione waiting.

They soon arrived at Hogsmeade station, and got off the train and began piling into the carriages that would take them to the school. Harry managed to get a carriage with Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny, and they began their ride up to the castle, thankful for being out of the rain that was thundering down on them. Meanwhile, Harry was trying to decide how he should go about this, in order to get everything done.

"_Firstly, I need to let Professor Dumbledore know. He would believe me, and he can help me find the Horcruxes, seeing as how Voldemort is still alive at this point in time,"_ thought Harry, as they arrived at the castle, and the students began racing to the huge oak doors to get out of the rain.

"_Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?"_ thought Harry, just before it hit him (literally).

SPLASH

Harry looked sideways at Ron, and saw that a water-filled balloon had just burst on his head.

"_Ah, that's what I forgot,"_ thought Harry, mentally face-palming himself.

"Weeee, got you little squirts!" cackled Peeves the poltergeist, above the Entrance Hall, aiming another balloon at a group of arriving fifth year girls, who screamed and ran into the Great Hall. Remembering what happened last time, Harry gently moved Hermione to his other side, and caught Professor McGonagall, as she came slipping into the Hall.

"Oh, thanks for that Potter," she said, before she glared up at Peeves, who was busy throwing balloons at more students coming in to the hall.

"PEEVES! Get down here right now!" yelled McGonagall, standing back up and ushering the soaked masses into the Great Hall. Peeves just stuck his tongue out at her, before he threw the rest of the balloons into the air and zoomed off and up the marble staircase.

"Right then, everyone into the Great Hall then," said McGonagall, as the bedraggled crowd moved into the Great Hall for the welcoming feast and the sorting of the new students. Harry looked up at the great enchanted ceiling of the hall, and sighed with relief. The last time he had seen it, the hall had been ravaged by the final battle against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It was good to see it looking as it should once more. Harry, Ron and Hermione all took seats next to Dean and Seamus, as they waited for the sorting to begin.

"Hiya Harry," said a high, shrill voice from further down the Gryffindor table. Harry felt a stab of guilt, as he turned to face Colin Creevey. Colin had been killed in the final battle and he had never forgiven himself for Colin being involved in the battle.

"Hi Colin," replied Harry.

"Guess what Harry? My brother Dennis is starting this year. I hope he's in Gryffindor. Keep your fingers crossed eh Harry?" said Colin, bouncing up and down on his chair.

"Don't worry Colin, I'm sure that he will get in to Gryffindor too," said Harry, smiling at the young boy, who grinned back at him. McGonagall walked back into the hall, a line of small, nervous looking first years trailing behind her. She walked up to the front of the Hall and placed the Sorting Hat on a stool. For a moment, the grubby looking hat just sat there. Then, a tear near the brim of the hat opened wide, like a mouth, and the hat broke into song:

_A thousand years or more ago,_

_When I was newly sown,_

_There lived four wizards of renown,_

_Whose names are still well known:_

_Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,_

_Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,_

_Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,_

_Shrewd Slytherin, from fen._

_They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,_

_They hatched a daring plan_

_To educate young sorcerers_

_Thus Hogwarts School began._

_Now each of these four founders_

_Formed their own house, for each_

_Did value different virtues_

_In the ones they had to teach_

_By Gryffindor, the bravest were_

_Prized far beyond the rest;_

_For Ravenclaw, the cleverest_

_Would always be the best;_

_For Hufflepuff, hard workers were_

_Most worthy of admission;_

_And power-hungry Slytherin_

_Loved those of great ambition._

_While still alive they did divide_

_Their favourites from the throng,_

_Yet how to pick the worthy ones_

_When they were dead and gone?_

'_Twas Gryffindor who found the way,_

_He whipped me off his head_

_The founders put some brains in me_

_So I could choose instead!_

_Now slip me snug about your ears,_

_I've never yet been wrong,_

_I'll have a look inside your mind_

_And tell where yo belong!_

The hall burst into applause, as the hat finished its song and stood silently on the stool once more. Professor McGonagall pulled out a long piece of parchment and began calling out names for the new students to be sorted into the houses. As she called out each student, Harry was only vaguely listening and clapping along with the rest of his house, when a new student was admitted to Gryffindor. Mostly, he was thinking furiously on what he needed to do and who he could get help from at this point. Suddenly, Harry managed to catch the eye of the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and he began using Occlumency to contact Dumbledore telepathically. Harry grimaced as he attempted to enter the older man's mind; after all, he never was any good at Occlumency. Eventually however, he was able to contact him.

"_Professor, its me sir, its Harry,"_ thought Harry, concentrating with all his might to get to Dumbledore's mind. Professor Dumbledore had been enjoying the Sorting of the new students, when he felt someone attempting to contact him through Occlumency. He quickly realised that it was coming from the Gryffindor table, and noticed Harry staring at him in concentration.

"_Harry, what is it? And since when did you know how to use Occlumency?" _asked Dumbledore, wondering where he could have picked up such a skill.

"_That's one of the things I need to talk to you about sir, I need your help and I think you're the only one who can help me at the moment," _answered Harry in his mind.

"_Ok then, after the feast, come meet me in my office and we will discuss this,"_ replied Dumbledore, before they severed the connection, allowing Harry to slump back into his seat, tired from his usage of Occlumency. He looked back up to see that the sorting had just finished, and Dumbledore had stepped forward to open the feast.

"And now, I have only two words to say to you. Tuck in," Said Dumbledore, his voice echoing throughout the Great Hall.

"Hear, hear!" shouted Ron and Harry at the same time, joined by quite a few others. Harry was starving; it was as though he hadn't eaten for years.

"_Funny," _thought Harry, munching on a mouthful of steak and Yorkshire pudding. "_I suppose that time travel makes you really, really hungry. Who would have thought it?"_ he thought, listening to Ron and Hermione arguing about elf rights, and Dean and Seamus talking about the World Cup. The feast was excellent like always, but this time, Harry couldn't wait for it to finish, so that he could talk to Dumbledore.

Some time later, Harry's wait was finally over (although he didn't mind waiting through desert as much, after all, he had his favourite treacle tart to keep him company) and Professor Dumbledore stood up to make his speech.

"Now that we are all fed and watered, I would like to make a few announcements," said Dumbledore, going into a few of the school rules, such as the list of items banned by Filch, and the Forbidden Forest, before he announced that the inter house Quidditch Cup would not take place this year, which caused a bit of an uproar, though it was quickly silenced by a bang from the end of Dumbledore's wand. He began to explain, before he was interrupted once more by the banging of the doors being opened. Harry saw, with a grimace that Barty Crouch Junior had entered the hall, under the disguise of Mad-Eye Moody, and was clunking his way to the front table. After the introduction of the impostor, Dumbledore announced the opening of the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts, and the students all began cheering.

"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October, and will be remaining with us for the greater part of the year. I know that you will extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and you will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!" finished Dumbledore, as a large amount of noise and scraping of chairs came about, as people began to head to their common rooms.

"Harry, are you coming?" asked Hermione, tapping him gently on the shoulder, as everybody around them began to leave.

"Uh sorry, but Dumbledore asked me to come see him about something earlier," said Harry, standing up and smiling at her. "I'll meet you back in the common room after wards," he said, waving to the others before he started towards Dumbledore's office.

Harry reached said office about ten minutes later, and suddenly realised that he didn't know the password to get into the office. However, as luck would have it, the Headmaster arrived after him, smiling at him with twinkling eyes as he apologised and said that he had suddenly needed to go to the bathroom and got lost along the way.

"So, Harry, I take it that you have not come to see me just to talk to me about your holidays?" asked Dumbledore, as he sat down behind his desk, summoning a squashy chintz armchair for Harry.

"I'm afraid not sorry sir, I have something very important to discuss with you," said Harry soberly, not looking the older man in the eyes.

"Does this have any correlation as to why you can suddenly use Occlumency?" asked the Headmaster gently.

"Yes sir, and I need you to believe what I tell you, because I need your help desperately sir," said Harry, his gaze rising to look Dumbledore in the eye.

"Ok then Harry, I will trust you in whatever you say, so tell me, what is going on?" asked Dumbledore, laying his hands on the desk in front of him. Harry closed his eyes for a minute, took a deep breath and then let fly.

"Professor Dumbledore, I believe that I have travelled back in time, and I know how to defeat Voldemort once and for all," he said. The Headmaster just stared at him for a minute or two.

"_Well, whatever I was expecting, it certainly wasn't that,"_ thought Dumbledore.

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Cool, well i hope everybody liked it, here are the votes so far for pairings

Harry/Fleur - 8

Harry/Hermione - 1

Harry/Ginny - 0

Other - 1

So far it seems like Harry/Fleur is winning by a fair bit, but i'll keep the polls open until the end of the next chapter, so if anybody wants there say, then review and tell me.

R&R plz

hope u enjoyed it :D


	3. Explaining Things

Yaya, and up comes chapter 3. hopefully this will be the last of the shorter chapters, but i neede to have a few of these in. And thankyou everybody for the amount of alerts, favs and most especially reviews that i have recieved so far. reviews i like the best cuz i can take into account others suggestions, so dont feel shy about reviewing ;)

enjoy peeps

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Dumbledore recovered from his stupor and looked at Harry with interest.

"Well, I can't say that I wasn't a little surprised at that revelation Harry, but I must say, it does seem that you are telling the truth," he said finally, smiling at the boy, who sighed in relief. If Dumbledore hadn't believed him, then he wouldn't have known what to do.

"But, I would like to ask you Harry, why did you return to this time?" inquired the Headmaster, sitting back in his chair, waiting for Harry's explanation.

"Well, you see sir, it was more of an accident that I ended up here, but as it so happens, this could be a great blessing for us," said Harry, while Dumbledore nodded, waiting for him to continue. "Well Professor, I came to this time from 7 years in the future, when I was 21 and fighting the last remnants of the Death Eaters who hadn't been caught. They were going by the name Order of the Snake, and they were causing fear and panic in the world again, so we set out to defeat them. I was sent back in time when I was battling their leader, Zaara, when our spells combined and I was thrown back into my 14 year-old body," continued Harry.

"Ah, so you are more of an unwilling time traveller then?" asked Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "And so that would mean that Voldemort was finally destroyed completely?" he continued, watching as Harry's face broke into a sombre expression.

"We defeated him, but many were lost throughout the years," said Harry, remembering the deaths of Sirius, Hermione, Fred, and Remus and of Dumbledore himself.

"Is there anyway to change that, now that you are back in this time Harry?" asked Dumbledore gently, and was relieved when Harry cracked a grin.

"Oh yes, this time things are going to change sir," he announced, pumping his fist in the air.

"Glad to hear that. Now, I'm assuming that Voldemort returns, but do you know how he does?" said Dumbledore, somewhat dreading the answer.

"Yes, he returns to power at the end of this year sir, and he lived on after he was defeated in Godric's Hollow fourteen years ago because of his Horcruxes," said Harry, his expression serious once more.

"Fascinating, you mean to say that he has more than one?" asked Dumbledore, clearly horrified at the thought.

"Yes, Voldemort created 6 Horcruxes in all. And he hid them very well," said Harry, remembering how he, Ron and Hermione had searched for each part of Voldemort's soul.

"In that case, we must destroy each of his Horcruxes, so that when he is resurrected at the end of the year, we can put an end to him, once and for all," said Dumbledore, leaning forward as he spoke. "Do you know where each of the Horcruxes are Harry?" asked Dumbledore of him.

"All of them. Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's diadem, the ring of Slytherin, Slytherin's locket, Voldemort's snake Nagini and a certain diary of Tom Riddle's," finished Harry, while the Headmaster raised his eyebrow at the diary comment. "The diary should already of been destroyed by me in this timeline, but the others still need to be found, and we're going to have some trouble with the cup and the snake I fear," said Harry, sitting back down as he took in a deep breath.

"My, my you are full of surprises Harry, but if we can destroy some of the Horcruxes then we need to know where they all are," said Dumbledore, patting Fawkes the phoenix, as he came to settle on his perch.

"Of course sir, the ring will be found in the ruins of the Gaunt house in the village of Little Hangleton, the locket will conveniently found in Number Twelve Grimmauld Place and the diadem will be found right here in Hogwarts," finished Harry, taking pleasure in seeing the shock on Dumbledore's face.

"Where in Hogwarts could he have hidden a Horcrux?" asked Dumbledore, believing that he was getting too old for all this.

"The Room of Requirement," said Harry simply. Dumbledore gaped for a moment, before he smiled widely at Harry and stood up.

"Well, that certainly was enlightening Harry, but I do believe that we should cut our little chat short for now. You have classes tomorrow, and I think that if I take in anymore big news like this then I might just have a heart attack," said the Headmaster, his eyes twinkling as he walked Harry to the door.

"Couldn't I skip classes sir, I already learned it all!" complained Harry, as they reached the stairs.

"Sorry Harry, but you're the one who came back in time, so you need to do some things over again," laughed Dumbledore.

"Ok, but Professor, I need to ask you one thing," Said Harry, his tone changing once more. "Can you help Sirius clear his name?" said Harry, almost pleading. Dumbledore sighed, and promised that he was already working on something to help Sirius.

"Well then, I suppose I better go then sir," said Harry, disappearing down the stairs, and into the corridor. Dumbledore smiled at his retreating form, before he walked back into the room and lowered himself into a chair, stroking Fawkes.

"I'm getting too old for this kinda crap," sighed Dumbledore, as he pulled a stack of paperwork towards him to begin signing. "_And you! Go back to hell where you came from!"_ thought Dumbledore, glaring at the dreaded paperwork.

Harry walked calmly back to the Gryffindor common room, taking relief from his surroundings, relishing in the fact that all the people who had died could now be saved. He came to a stop at the portrait of the Fat Lady, cursing his stupidity as he realised he didn't know the password. He was contemplating what to do, when he heard someone inside the common room walking towards thee portrait hole. The portrait swung open, and Harry was looking up at the startled face of Ginny Weasley.

"Hey Ginny, thanks for opening the hole for me," said Harry, smiling gratefully at her. She went a dark shade of pink, and stuttered a reply back. Harry smiled back at her, but couldn't help feeling a pang of regret. They had only been going out for a few months after the downfall of Voldemort, when they realised that they felt uncomfortable as they were, and broke off their relationship, feeling better off just being close like brother and sister. Still, seeing her like this once again, when she still had a crush on him, it made Harry feel saddened that it hadn't worked out between them. He crossed the room to the fireplace and sat down in front of it, warming himself for a little while, before he realised that Ginny was still standing behind him, still looking a little red, and only getting redder as he turned to look at her. He inwardly giggled as he stood up and started heading to his dormitory for the night, before he stopped and went back.

"Thanks again for that Ginny," said Harry, hugging her gently, before pulling away and seeing that she her face had invented a new shade of pink. His inner self was rolling on the floor of his mindscape, laughing itself stupid, as Harry ascended the stairs to the dormitories.

"And now, finally, life is good," thought Harry, rolling into his four-poster bed. Seconds later, and he was happily asleep.

The dormitories of the seventh year Beauxbatons students were all quiet as the students slept peacefully. Yet, there was one student who was still awake, her mind fully alert, as she came to wonder how she had arrived here.

At the same time, a single Durmstrang sat at the windowsill overlooking the mountains that bordered the school, deep in thought as well. And, as the dawn came, both students made the same vow:

"I promise I will find out why I am in this time once more!"

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And there we have it, another chapter succesfully made. polls are going well, and they will end in 3 days, when i put up the next chapter, so review and tell me who u want everybody. thanks, and tune in next time for chapter 4.

This chapter has been brought to you by peppa-chan, official mascot of Manifest. WE LOVE YOU PEPPA-CHAN!


	4. The Delegations Arrive

Hey all, sorry that it took so long to post this, but its been an emotional rollercoaster for me lately. and ive been very busy with my school's production and upcoming exams (Noooooooooo) anyway, this chapter is brought to you by the mailman. we apologise for his lateness. enjoy

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Harry woke early the next morning, confused as to why he had woken to the sound of heavy snoring, before he remembered his journey back in time.

"_I really ought not to travel in time again, it's such a headache,"_ thought Harry, pulling on his robes and making his way down to the common room and out the portrait hole. He walked quietly down the marble staircase, wandering aimlessly before breakfast, taking the time to walk around the grounds once more. He stopped outside the Great Hall, thinking about getting some breakfast, even though it was still early. He stepped inside and saw that only a few others were awake at the moment, mostly from Hufflepuff. He passed by the table, receiving greetings from Hannah Abbot and Ernie Macmillan as he walked along to the end of the Gryffindor Table, before a voice called him back.

"Hey, Harry I need to talk to you," shouted someone from the end of the Hufflepuff table. Harry turned around and his breath caught in his throat, as Cedric Diggory walked over to him.

"_Of course. He died in the graveyard when Voldemort came back to power, why didn't I think about this," _thought Harry, as Cedric jogged over to him.

"Do you mind if we take a walk Harry?" asked Cedric, glancing at his fellow Hufflepuff's as they looked at the two with interest.

"Uh, sure that sounds fine," said Harry, forcing a smile as they walked back out of the Hall, and continued on until they were walking over towards the lake. Just as they reached the lake, Cedric turned to Harry and his expression became serious.

"Harry, I need you to answer me truthfully on this. Did I die?" asked Cedric, completely serious. Harry was gob smacked. What was he going on about? Then, suddenly Harry had a thought.

"It wasn't in a graveyard or something was it?" asked Harry, choosing his words carefully, as he spoke to the older boy.

"Exactly! And it was right after the third task!" exclaimed Cedric.

"Oh my god, Cedric we both travelled back in time!" said Harry, practically shouting as the realisation hit him.

"But how, and why us?" asked Cedric, as they overcame their excitement momentarily. Harry quickly ran Cedric over the same story he had told Dumbledore, skipping over the part with Sirius and the Horcruxes.

"So, that means that we can prevent You-Know-Who from returning this time and we can make sure no one is hurt this time round," said Cedric excitedly, skipping a small stone across the lake with ease.

"Yeah, but we need to actually get through the tournament again without getting ourselves mauled by dragons, drowned in a lake or getting lost in the maze again," said Harry, smirking as he recalled the first time he had entered the maze that was the third task. Then, with a sudden lurch in his stomach, he realised something.

"Cedric, if we do anything differently this time around in the tournament, we might change something in the future. Like, say we take a wrong turn in the maze, or we do something different in fighting the dragons, what do you suppose could happen?" asked Harry, feeling a bit nervous as he realised that time travel could have consequences like this. Cedric also looked a bit uncomfortable with the question, trying to answer it as best as he could, before Harry waved it away.

"Don't worry, as long as we can do the last task without any problems, then we'll be fine," said Harry, beginning to walk back to the castle, while Cedric looked a bit doubtful.

"What makes you so sure though?" asked Cedric, as Harry turned to face him.

"You want to know why I can tell?" asked Harry in a whisper. Cedric leaned forward to hear his answer, before Harry started waving his arms in the air and giving him a look of mock-seriousness. "Because, I'm Harry Potter," he announced dramatically, making Cedric laugh as he and Harry began the walk back to the castle.

Harry came to a stop at the Gryffindor table and took a seat in between Ron and Hermione, before piling his plate high with kippers, bacon and sausages and started eating.

"Hey Harry, what were you doing talking to Diggory?" asked Ron around his mouthful of eggs. An amazing feat considering he had so much stuffed in his mouth and could still speak coherently.

"Umm, we were talking about the World Cup," said Harry, making sure to swallow his food before talking, noticing Hermione looking there way with an appraising look. Ron seemed to believe the explanation (or he just wanted to go back to eating, it was hard to tell), and they finished their breakfast amidst the talk of the Triwizard Tournament. Afterwards, they headed off to their classes, and Harry almost tried to jump out a window when he found out their first class was Divination.

"Ron, please tell me why we didn't do a Hermione and walk out of that old bat's class last year too?" asked Harry miserably, as they headed up the Marble Staircase and towards the seventh floor which held the Divination room.

"Because Harry, we're stupid remember?" said Ron, who also was contemplating an injury serious enough to be excused from class. They finally found their way to the class, and went up the ladder into the stifling room, taking residence at one of the circular tables in the back of the class. All too soon, Professor Trelawney came into view and began handing out star charts. Soon after, she created a solar system on the ceiling for them to observe and write down the things about the stars. Mostly, it was just the boys making bad jokes, until the bell finally rung. They made their way to the Great Hall for the lunch break, to find Hermione eating at top speed.

"Library again?" asked Harry rhetorically. He knew she was going to the library.

"Of course. I need to do some more research," said Hermione, still shovelling pie into her mouth at an incredible rate, before standing up and sprinting off towards the library.

"Mad, that one is," said Harry calmly, before sitting down to eat, followed by a bemused Ron.

They finished the day's classes, suffering only minor burns from Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts, and only receiving a pile of Divination and Potions homework due at the end of the week. The rest of the week passed without too much happening, apart from Malfoy being turned into a ferret (Harry had borrowed Colin's camera this time and made a video) and writing increasingly miserable misfortunes for their dream diaries for Divination (Harry had to stop Ron from writing that he would accidentally push a star gazing teacher from a tall tower, due to the position of Neptune). Finally, it came to a practical duelling class with Moody, after they had each attempted to resist the Imperius Curse. Harry was just watching, as Moody effortlessly disarmed Ron and hit him with a weak Stunning spell.

"Right then, Potter, your turn," barked Moody, gesturing to Harry with a gnarled finger. Harry stepped forward, intent on showing this impostor that he was not to be messed with. Moody counted slowly to three, before firing a slow Stunner at Harry, who in response sent his own Stunner, watching in amusement, as Moody's face changed to shock, as his Stunner easily broke through his own, narrowly missing him.

"_Impedimenta!"_ shouted Moody, firing a faster moving spell at him, hoping to catch him off guard. Harry smirked to himself, planning to do some overkill.

"E_spejo de Disparo!" _shouted Harry, a small, unnoticeable rift opening between himself and the spell, absorbing it and firing it back at Moody a second later, blasting him off his feet. The class stood stock still, completely shocked at the outcome, before Moody struggled to his feet, looking back at Harry, with a smile on his face, and a hint of admiration playing in his normal eye.

"Very well done Potter, that was very impressive, you must show me that spell sometime," he said, clapping Harry on the shoulder, before he dismissed the class, surprising people on his now cheerful attitude. He seemed to be happy that Harry had defeated him. As soon as they had left the room, Ron and Hermione turned to Harry.

"What kind of spell was that Harry?" asked Hermione, still shocked that Harry had so easily beaten Moody.

"Yeah mate, where did you learn that awesome spell?" asked Ron, looking amazed at Harry's spell work.

"I accidentally used it once, and I thought it was useful, so I developed it as a new spell," explained Harry, as they walked to lunch. "It basically creates a small rift where you point your wand and it absorbs a spell, before redirecting it back at the caster with twice as much power. The only downside is that it wouldn't be very useful against more powerful spells, like the Unforgivable Curses," finished Harry, sitting down at the Gryffindor table for lunch. Both Ron and Hermione nodded dumbly, before they joined him and began eating lunch.

The week seemed to drag on forever, but finally, the day of the arrival of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had come. The Hogwarts students left classes early to greet the delegations of the foreign schools, lining up at the house tables in the Great Hall. Harry stood with Ron and Hermione, wondering if Fleur or Krum had travelled back in time as well. He caught Cedric's eye and began using Occlumency to contact him, having taught it to Cedric over the past weeks.

"_Cedric, do you think that the other two might have come back as well?"_ said Harry in his mind.

"_No idea, but look for changes. If neither of us has had contact with them, and were sure that no one else has travelled back, then if anything is different from last time, then that should be a dead give-away," _explained Cedric back.

"_That makes sense,"_ replied Harry, before the connection was cut, as they both looked towards the opening doors of the Hall, seeing the Beauxbatons students lining in, followed by the enormous form of Madame Maxime. Harry spotted Fleur, walking along between the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables, clad in many warm garments. Unfortunately, this meant that she did not notice Harry; as she continued on to sit at the Ravenclaw table, following the rest of her classmates. The Durmstrang students followed in after, causing many whispers to erupt, as people caught sight of Viktor Krum. Luckily, Viktor Krum caught sight of Harry, nodding in his direction, silently sending Harry a message.

"_Well, I'd wager a guess that Krum came back too then,"_ mused Harry to himself, as the Durmstrang students took seats at the Slytherin table, while Ron muttered curses at Malfoy under his breath.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and – most particularly – guests," announced Dumbledore, getting to his feet and beaming around at the new arrivals. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable." Harry turned to look at Fleur, thoroughly convinced that she had also returned with them, seeing her paying attention to the speech, remembering that last time she had laughed during Dumbledore's welcome.

"The Triwizard Tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast, and I now invite you to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" he finished, as the food magically began to appear on the golden platters in the Hall. He sat down, and was soon engaged in conversation by Karkaroff, while the rest of the Hall broke out into conversation. Harry was talking with Ron and Hermione and trying some of the foreign dishes he hadn't last time, surprising some of his classmates, before they were interrupted by Fleur.

"Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?" she asked, stunning Ron with her Veela beauty, along with several other boys around them.

"Yeah, you can have it miss," said Harry cheerfully, pushing the dish towards her. She smiled at him, before bending forward to pick it up. Her silvery blonde hair fell over them both and she winked at him and whispered something to him.

"What's my favourite thing about Ogwarts?" she asked quietly.

"I'd say it was me, Miss Delacour," replied Harry cheekily, making Fleur blush a little, before she straightened up, the entire affair only taking two seconds. She walked away with the dish, leaving Harry content, knowing that all of the champions had gone back in time, and leaving Ron and the other boys goggling at the retreating form of Fleur.

"Put your eyes back in Ronald," said Hermione crossly, as he continued to stare at Fleur.

"Harry, she's a Veela," he said hoarsely, tearing his eyes away from the Ravenclaw table where Fleur was sitting.

"Yeah, I got that feeling when she came over to," replied Harry, going back to his steak and kidney pie.

"And you can see that Harry isn't goggling over her," said Hermione, satisfied that at least one boy wasn't breathless over her. Harry continued his meal listening to the conversation of his friends around him, until Dumbledore got up to speak again. Harry tuned a good deal of the speech out, as Dumbledore began explaining the rules of the Tournament. After what seemed like a particularly long time, Dumbledore dismissed them for bed. Exiting the Hall, Harry caught sight of Cedric, giving him the thumbs up which he returned with a grin. Harry made his way to Gryffindor Tower with Ron and Hermione. As soon as they entered the Tower, talk erupted into the Triwizard Tournament, along with ideas of how to sneak into it, without being 17. Harry, feeling thoroughly exhausted, made his way up to the dormitories, and climbing into his four-poster bed.

"Well, this time around, I'd say this is going to be pretty interesting," murmured Harry to himself, before smirking and rolling over and falling asleep.

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Yay, and there's another chapter up. once again, i do apologise for the huge wait in this chapter taking so long, but it has been a difficult time.

R&R plz people

And the results on the polls (including several votes i got from people at school who dont have a FF account)

Harry?Fleur - 30

Harry/Ginny - 3

Harry?Hermione - 1

Harry/other - 2

and its Harry/Fleur by a landslide, so this will be a Harry Fleur fic. until next time folks


	5. Champions

Greetings all. Very sorry for such a long wait on these chapters, my life is what most people would call a mess, same as my room, and its taken a loooooong time to fix everything up, between new classes, tertiary education fees and a lot of other things i wont list, in short my life has been hectic and i lost my writers enthusiasm for awhile. fear not however, as i shall continue this fic, despite several worries that it was to be discontinued. and, without further interruption, this chapter is brought to you by the following sponsors... oh wait, we don't have any sponsors... in that case, on with the show!

Enjoy :)

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Harry woke up early the next day to the sound of Ron's snoring.

"_Ugh, I knew I should have put a Silencing Charm on him before I went to sleep,"_ grumbled Harry to himself. Quietly, he pulled on his robes and set off downstairs and out into the grounds, setting a slow pace for a morning job. The air was chilly, as expected from an early morning in autumn. Absent-mindedly, Harry walked towards Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, thinking of visiting the gentle giant who had brought him back to the magical world, all those years ago.

"_Although, I suppose looking at it from somebody else's point of view, it was only three years ago. Time travel really does a number on your mind," _thought Harry, as his mind began to work its way around the problems facing him. He was so distracted; he almost walked into a Beauxbatons student, before she caught him gently by the shoulders.

"Arry, you really should be more careful when you're walking," said a soft voice somewhere above Harry. Harry looked up, smiling as his eyes caught sight of Fleur, smiling gently down at him. Harry instinctively embraced her, which Fleur quickly reciprocated.

"Would you like to walk wiz me, Arry?" Fleur asked softly, gesturing towards the lake. Harry nodded, before setting off at a lazy pace next to Fleur. A comfortable silence fell between the two, remembering their previous conversations and exchanges from their future. During the long spanning fight against Voldemort's last loyal Death Eaters, Bill and Fleur had been having troubles, escalating to the point where Fleur had walked in to Shell Cottage one afternoon, to find Bill sleeping with another woman. After the incident, Fleur began spending a lot of time with Harry, who comforted her through her troubles. She had still been recovering from Bill's deceit when they had been thrown back in time. Harry glanced at Fleur, noticing that her eyes were rimmed with red, indicative that she had been crying again.

"Fleur, talk to me. I know that you're still hurting, but you know you can trust me right?" said Harry, stopping suddenly next to the lake. Fleur looked back him for a moment, before sighing and sitting down on a large, flat rock next to the lake.

"I do trust you Arry, but eet is ard to simply forget zat it appened," she explained, turning to face him, only to be pulled into a hug by Harry.

"It's ok, just talk to me whenever you're ready," he whispered to her, as she leaned into the hug, laying her beautiful head on his shoulder, a small, but genuine smile spread across her delicate features.

"Merci Arry," she whispered back, hugging him tightly.

Harry and Fleur returned to the castle just as the students began filing in for breakfast. More than a couple of students stopped to stare at the two, some with curiosity, others with incredulity, and most with envy and jealousy. Fleur smiled at Harry before walking over to her classmates at the Ravenclaw table, while Harry went to sit with his friends.

Harry, who was that girl? She was that one that all the boys were staring at the welcoming feast," questioned Hermione, as Harry began to spread marmalade on his toast.

"Just a friend," replied Harry, taking a bite of toast as Ron stared open mouthed at Harry, his breakfast all but forgotten, a rare thing for Ron to forget. "After all, the whole point of the tournament is relations with the foreign schools, so I thought making friends with a few people from the other schools was a good idea."

"That's really good Harry," smiled Hermione, glad to see that somebody was trying to make friends with the foreigners.

"You really should close your mouth Ron, otherwise bugs will fly in," said Harry seriously, waving his hand in front of his face. Ron closed his mouth and turned to face Harry.

"Harry, how did you manage to talk to her?" asked Ron finally, his mouth finally back to working, though his food hadn't been touched, still keeping Harry amazed that the food wasn't gone yet since it had been in front of his friend for over a minute.

"Well Ron, first I walked up to her. Then, I said hi, then we talked," said Harry slowly, making Ron give him an exasperated look.

"I meant how did you become friends so quickly? They only got here last night," said Ron, while Hermione also thought about it and Harry was suddenly sweating bullets.

"Umm, well we figured we have a lot in common," managed Harry, trying to play it off. Upon seeing his friend's confused looks, he continued. "I mean, we both get a lot of unwanted attention for a reason we don't have any control over, so we got along really well," finished Harry, inwardly proud that he had managed to cover for himself that time. Hermione and Ron showed looks of understanding and went back to their breakfast, while Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He felt bad about having to lie to his best friends, but he had no other choice for the time being.

After some discussion on whom the champion for Hogwarts may be, and watching Fred and George try to get past the age line (It was even funnier this time round watching them both sprout beards) Harry, Ron and Hermione headed back to the castle to see the choosing of the champions. Harry was inwardly groaning at the thought that soon, three quarters of the school would once again hate him. Hermione noticed his depression, though Ron, who was attempting to transfigure a particularly annoying fly, did not.

"Harry, are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"I just have a bad feeling that something is going to go wrong tonight, and knowing my luck, I'm going to be right in the middle of it all," replied Harry, casting a quick warming charm on his jacket to keep from shivering.

"Don't worry, I'm sure nothing will go wrong," said Hermione, giving him an encouraging smile.

"That's what they all say, right before things go boom!" answered Harry, puffing out his cheeks and stretching his arms out for dramatic effect. Hermione gave him a playful punch on the arm, just as they reached the entrance hall. Harry sat down between his friends, just as the feast appeared on the golden plates. While Ron and Hermione conversed with their fellow classmates, Harry was in deep thought about how he could best handle the tournament, as well as making sure that everybody else was kept safe this time round. Finally, as the last of the treacle tart vanished from the now clean golden plates, Dumbledore began explaining the procedure in which the champions would follow after being chosen, before the candles were extinguished, casting the great hall into a state of semi darkness. Just as he remembered the first time, Harry watched as the Goblet turned red and began to spark, before a tongue of flame shot out of the cup, a charred piece of parchment fluttering out of it to be caught by the headmaster.

"The champion for Durmstrang is Viktor Krum!" announced Dumbledore, as a tumult of applause swept through the hall and Krum slouched off towards the chamber at the end of the staff table. A second tongue of flame shot out again, with a second singed piece of parchment being caught by Dumbledore. "The Champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!" another round of applause, while many boys stared after Fleur, Ron included.

"They look disappointed," said Hermione, nodding her head towards the other Beauxbatons students. Harry saw that many were seconds away from tears, while two actually had their heads on their arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Just a bit disappointed, yeah," replied Harry, turning his attention back to Dumbledore, as everyone tensed with excitement, as the Hogwarts champion was drawn.

"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!" yelled Dumbledore, struggling to keep himself heard over the thunderous applause and cheering from the Hogwarts students, with the Hufflepuff table being the centre of it all. Cedric smiled out at everybody before heading up to the staff table. And just as he remembered, everybody gasped, as during Dumbledore's speech, a fourth tongue of flame shot out of the cup, along with a singed piece of parchment, while Harry felt a familiar knotting sensation in the pit of his stomach. Full well knowing that this would happen from Harry's explanation, Dumbledore put on a good façade of confusion, as he pulled out the fourth name.

"Harry Potter," he announced, feeling very grave indeed. Harry felt the stares of hundreds of students focused on him, caught like a deer in the headlights. Very much aware of the whispers of the rest of the school, Harry had the perfect look of horror and disbelief painted on his face, as he turned to Ron and Hermione. Both were looking blankly back at him, neither able to believe what was in front of their eyes.

"Harry Potter, please come to the front table," called Dumbledore from his position at the top table. It felt even worse this time round, as the increasing noise of angry whispering amongst the houses increased, while the walk to the top felt like it took forever. As he approached the top table, he took in Hagrid's look of disbelief and shock, of McGonagall's look of abject worry, Snape's of suspicion, Dumbledore's slight eye movements that meant he knew what was going on now, and something he hadn't seen in the impostor Moody's eye the last time. It was a look of triumph and victory, covered with a hardened face of indifference. Slowly, Harry disappeared behind the door to the room beyond, as the Great Hall erupted in yells of protest.

Harry walked down towards where the other champions, his fellow time travellers, waited for his arrival. He came to the scene to see all three by the fire, though differently to how he remembered. Cedric and Fleur were talking animatedly, and even Krum was looking less surly and was even smiling a bit, and stepped forward to greet Harry as he came in.

"Harry, it is good to see you again, ve haff been vaiting for you," rumbled Krum, shaking his hand warmly. Harry and Krum had become better friends after the war against Voldemort, when Krum had taken Harry to Quidditch practice with the Bulgarian team. Fleur rushed forward and hugged him tightly, while Harry returned her hug, feeling much better all of a sudden. In the background, Cedric started sniggering but promptly stopped when Fleur glared at him. Hearing approaching footsteps of the teachers, the champions quickly got into place, pretending to look bewildered as to why Harry was there. Dumbledore strode quickly into the room, followed by a disgruntled looking Madame Maxime, a livid Karkaroff and Snape, an excited Bagman, and Moody, McGonagall and Crouch bringing up the rear.

"Extraordinary!" muttered Bagman, grabbing Harry's arm as he strode between the champions. "It would seem… as unexpected as it is… we have four Triwizard champions!" announced Bagman, staring excitedly at the other champions. Krum and Cedric pretended to look politely bewildered, while Fleur put on a look of puzzlement and stepped forward to Madame Maxime.

"But surely E is too young?" she asked of her Headmistress, shooting Harry an apologetic look.

"Quite so," answered Madame Maxime, looking thoroughly upset.

"Harry, did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" asked Dumbledore calmly.

"No sir, nor did I ask an older student to do it for me. What I do wish to know is whether there is a way for me to get out of this Tournament or not?" replied Harry.

"I'm afraid not Mr Potter, the Tournament constitutes a powerful binding magical contract, which means you must compete," answered Bagman, looking excited at the unexpected outcome.

"But of course e is lying!" protested Madame Maxime.

"Non, I believe monsieur Potter, if e says that e did not submit is name, e did not do it," said Fleur, shocking her Headmistress as well as most of the other teachers.

"Same here," agreed Cedric. "I've known Harry for a little while and I know that he isn't the sort to lie about something important like this. If he says he didn't do it, he didn't do it," finished Cedric, walking to stand with Harry.

"I vood also like to state my backing of him as vell," added Krum quietly, amazing the teachers even more that the surly teenager had said anything at all. All hell broke loose essentially, and it was only quelled when Mr Crouch told them it was all pointless as Harry would have to compete anyway. He briefed all the champions on the first task, before the masses began to disperse. Krum and Karkaroff left in silence, Krum in deep thought and Karkaroff in deep anger, while Madame Maxime left in bemusement at the change in her student, while Fleur turned back briefly to smile at Harry. Harry felt his cheeks redden at her beautiful smile, but quickly pulled himself back into the real world.

"Harry, Cedric, I suggest you go up to bed," said a smiling Dumbledore. "I am sure Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise," he said, before the two of them started making their way to their common rooms.

"So, here we go again," said Harry, grinning at Cedric, who smiled back.

"Hopefully this time we can try even more ideas out, since we already know what's going to happen," replied Cedric, as they neared the marble staircase. They were just about to part ways, when Cedric shouted back to Harry.

"Don't worry Harry, I'm going to talk to everybody tonight, try and keep everybody off your back this time round," he called, before disappearing down the corridor. Harry sighed, resigning himself to the celebration in the Gryffindor common room, before making his way upstairs.

After half an hour of partying, this time slightly enjoying it, though still eager to get away from it all, Harry managed to get to the dormitory, finding a still fully dressed Ron lying on his bed.

"Just so you know, I didn't put my name in for the Tournament," said Harry at once. Ron's eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Harry, you know you can tell me, I'm your best mate," said Ron, trying to sound casual.

"I already told you Ron, I didn't put my name in the cup," said an exasperated Harry.

"Yeah, whatever. Do you really think I'm that stupid Harry?" asked a sceptical Ron.

"Doing a pretty good impression at the moment," muttered Harry, lying don on his four-poster bed.

"Fine, I won't bother you, I'm sure you need to be up early for a photo shoot or something, said Ron bitterly, wrenching the curtains around his bed closed. Harry closed his eyes in frustration before changing and getting into bed.

"_Hopefully, the worst of it is done, and once the first task is finished we can resume our friendship,"_ thought Harry, rolling over onto his side. "_The worst thing about a situation like this is I'm not old enough to be able to just go get a Firewhisky,"_ Harry groaned out loud at this thought, before slipping back into unconsciousness.

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And there we have it, another chapter down, now just a long long wait for the next (we hope not). read and review all, i always appreciate feedback and ideas, even if i don't end up being able to use all of the suggestions i recieve, i do enjoy fitting in as many as i can.

see you soon (hopefully).


	6. The Wand Weighing

Hi all. so sorry for the huge delay, its been a grueling few months, classes have been a killer, i have had a couple of survival camps already and another one next week, skydiving coming up soon and been saving up for a trip to Europe next year, its all been very stressful. Hopefully this chapter will be alright and everybody can forgive me for not having posted in so long, if people are still reading that is. Moonlight Ace does not own any of Harry Potter, other than any OC's i create. Moonlight Ace is brought to you by the following sponsors... oh wait, we don't have any sponsors. in that case, on with the show.

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Harry woke the next morning, remembering with bitterness the fight he had with Ron last night. He took a shower and dressed, before heading out of the portrait hole. Expecting to run into Hermione, Harry was surprised when he opened the portrait hole and came face to face with Cedric instead.

"Morning Harry, are you free at the moment?" said Cedric, as Harry walked towards him.

"Umm, yeah, what's up?" asked Harry in confusion, wondering what Cedric wanted.

"I was thinking we should meet up with Fleur and Krum, since we all…" Cedric looked cautiously around, as Harry realised his intention. Nodding his agreement, Harry followed Cedric out onto the grounds, heading in the direction of Hagrid's hut, where Harry noticed the two remaining champions standing in the shade of one of the great oak trees which stood near the hut. After reaching them, Harry had enough time to give Krum a brief handshake before Fleur wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Harry gave a happy smile before he hugged Fleur back, while Cedric sniggered and even the stoic Durmstrang champion gave off a chuckle, before they both received a silencing sort of glare from Fleur.

"Arry, are you okay?" asked Fleur, breaking the hug and looking at him with concern reflecting in her beautiful sapphire eyes. Ever since the troubles with Bill had started up, Fleur had come to spend most of her time with Harry, finding solace in her young friend. As a way of helping her through her own troubles, Harry told Fleur all about his life, from the Dursley's to all his troubles through the Triwizard Tournament. She knew this was the day after he had had a fight with his first friend.

"I'm alright," mumbled Harry, while Fleur gave him a small, sad smile. She could tell that he was anything but okay, though she wouldn't push him.

"Well, now that we're all done with that, I think we should get down to business, right guys?" said Cedric, sitting down underneath the great oak tree, reclining against the trunk.

"I think that vood be a good idea," answered Victor, copying Cedric and sitting back against another tree, while Harry sat down against a third tree and Fleur leant against his chest, to both his embarrassment and pleasure.

"Well, apart from me, you've all lived through this whole war with You-Know-Who, so you know what is coming then right?" asked Cedric. Harry and Fleur nodded, having both been there at the battle of Hogwarts, while Krum gave a stoic nod.

"Its not a pretty thought. Voldemort began by gathering his supporters, the giants, werewolves, vampires and all sorts of other creatures, as well as his Death Eaters," began Harry, watching as Cedric's face took on a serious and grave expression. "In the end, a lot of lives were lost to repel Voldemort's forces and destroy him. But, I have information that we can use to destroy him much sooner this time, so that by the time the Third Task comes around, when Voldemort uses the Triwizard cup as a Portkey, we can safely and finally destroy him," finished Harry, smiling slightly when Fleur squeezed him arm gently in reassurance, having felt him tense up at the mention of the battles.

"Vhat kind of information Harry?" asked Victor, his back straight against the tree in interest.

"Voldemort, when he was still a teenager at Hogwarts, used very dark magic to enable him to anchor himself to life, even if his body was destroyed. He created Horcruxes, a very dark form of magic which allows the user to plant a piece of their soul into an object to anchor them to life," explained Harry, causing both Victor and Cedric's eyebrows to rise into their hairlines and their eyes to widen in shock.

"Horcruxes! Ve have studied the use of such black magic at Durmstrang," spat Victor, as though the word left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Wait, you said Horcruxes, do you mean he made more than one?" asked Cedric, a hint of worry evident in his voice.

"Yes, Voldemort split his soul into seven pieces, and he hid each of them very well. Actually, scratch that, he technically made eight, though the last one was an accident," said Harry thoughtfully.

"Eight?" asked Victor and Cedric in confusion, while Fleur gave a reassuring squeeze to Harry's arm.

"To split a persons soul, one must commit murder, and at the time he tried to commit the murder of my family, when his spell rebounded upon him and destroyed his body, that piece of his soul latched onto the only thing in the room it could use," explained Harry, reaching his hand up to tap his scar. Both Cedric and Victor looked horrified and worried.

"You mean You-Know-Who made you his Horcrux?" asked Cedric stammering slightly.

"Unfortunately yes, but I can get rid of it, I think, and I know where the rest of them are," said Harry, grinning slightly, which was infectious, as the other champions all split into smiles themselves. They started making plans for the year, detailing everything from the Tasks, the Horcruxes, defeating Voldemort, and of course, the all important party to celebrate at the end, which Harry said was essential since he didn't get one last time he had to deal with Voldemort.

Harry walked towards Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, having just finished Herbology. True to Cedric's word, the Hufflepuff's did indeed leave him alone, and were even civil to him, a dramatic change from the first time. Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie Macmillan both explained that Cedric had talked to the whole house last night and had said that he believed Harry did not enter himself into the Tournament, and how they had all been proven wrong when the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, so this time they should trust Harry. This relieved Harry immensely, especially since he was unable to talk to Ron for the time being.

"Ah, look boys, it's the champion," came the haughty voice of one Draco Malfoy, his arrogant voice carrying over as Harry approached. "Got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he's going to be around much longer… how long do you reckon you're going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task's my bet," he continued, looking pleased at his condescending monologue, while Harry merely looked mildly impressed.

"Wow Malfoy, that's a lot of big words you just used there," said Harry, as though he were talking to a small child.

"Watch when you're talking to you're superiors Potter," growled Malfoy in a warning tone.

"The idea of you being superior to anything bigger than a gnome is actually rather laughable Malfoy, laughable like when you were on the train when those fireworks went off," replied Harry, grinning at the look of outrage on Malfoy's red face.

"That was you!" screamed Malfoy, as Crabbe and Goyle stood next to him, looking as imposing as they could.

"Indeed, and I must say, I've never known men could scream quite like that Malfoy. Tell me, were you really that scared, or were you just wearing tight underwear?" asked Harry, a grin taking over his face, as Malfoy looked as though he would explode soon, the arrival of Hagrid thankfully stemming the oncoming explosion.

"Alright, settle down, settle down," boomed Hagrid, as he started pairing students up with Skrewt's to walk. Hagrid talked to Harry during this time about him believing he did not enter himself in the Tournament, and in the last ten minutes of class, Harry put a quick Confundus Charm on Malfoy's Skrewt, so that it blasted off right after it had jumped a few feet in the air, its fire managing to burn off Malfoy's left eyebrow. Looking thoroughly pleased with his handiwork, Harry exited the class amongst peels of laughter directed at the blonde Slytherin.

Harry groaned as he headed toward his last class for the day, double Potions with Snape. True, he somewhat respected the man, since he had learned how he had cunningly helped them, but it didn't take away any hatred he had for the greasy bat. When Harry got to the dungeons, his blood began to boil, as he saw that Hermione had arrived before him this time and, just as last time, her teeth had begun to grow at an exponential rate. Ignoring the howls of laughter from the Slytherins, Harry pulled Hermione away and started heading towards the Hospital Wing, but ran into Snape halfway.

"Well, well Potter, skipping classes so soon? I'm afraid that will be a detention for both you and Miss Granger," said Snape in a silky voice.

"I'm taking Hermione to the Hospital Wing," said Harry shortly.

"Talking back now are we Potter? Ten points from Gryffindor I think," said Snape, his voice edged with arrogance. Unable to contain himself any longer, Harry turned to face Snape and, his eyes boring into Snape's own, begun an attack on Snape's mind. He could see Snape's look of shock as he smashed through his Legilimency barriers and forged a connection with the Potions master.

"_Listen here Snape, one of your students attacked Hermione without provocation and I will not be punished for taking her to the hospital wing. I know that you have never liked my father, but I am not my father, and personally I think my mother would be disappointed in you as well, to see her friend acting like this as well,"_ thought Harry, as Snape's expression became more and more shocked. Harry turned to walk away, still with Hermione in tow, before he looked over his shoulder at the stunned professor.

"If you want to know, ask Dumbledore," called Harry, as he began walking to the Hospital Wing once more. Snape finally regained his voice and went to shout at him to return, but quickly realised that Harry was already gone. Snape felt a pang of regret, as he thought about his long time friend and love interest, Lily Potter, wondering what she would think of him now.

"What would you say to me, Lily?" asked Snape quietly, before turning and quietly walking back towards the dungeons.

Harry walked into the dungeons fifteen minutes later, having taken Hermione to the Hospital Wing earlier. Snape shocked everyone by not even looking at Harry as he walked in late.

"Professor, Potter just walked in late," said Malfoy loudly, smirking as he thought Harry would be in trouble.

"I am aware, Mr Malfoy," answered Snape, shocking everyone yet again, Malfoy especially, as he still did not punish Harry. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Colin Creevey entered.

"Yes?" said Snape curtly.

"Please, sir, I'm supposed to take Harry Potter upstairs."

"Very well then, Potter you're excused. Come down and see me later to pick up your assignment," said Snape. If it was at all possible for the class to look more shocked, it would be happening now. Snape, letting Harry off class without even putting up a fight was weird enough, but to even tell him to return to pick up work later… even Harry was wondering what was going on by this point. Harry grabbed his schoolbag and slung it onto his back, before making his way out of the classroom with Colin. Colin chatted animatedly with Harry all the way up to the classroom. Harry let himself in and had to repress a groan, as he caught sight of Ludo Bagman, a cameraman and, most annoyingly, Rita Skeeter, possibly the most annoying witch in the world.

"Ah, here he is! Champion number four!" cried Bagman, ushering Harry in, gibbering on about the Wand Weighing Ceremony. Harry caught Cedric's eye, which was currently half closed due to overexposure to Skeeter.

"I wonder if I could have a little word with Harry before we start?" Rita Skeeter said to Bagman, gazing at Harry. Who had only just stopped staring at Fleur, who was smiling at him. "The youngest champion, you know… to add a bit of colour?" she continued, her eyes fixed upon Harry. Shortly after, Harry found himself once more inside a broom cupboard, with Rita Skeeter perched on an upturned bucket, a Quick-Quotes-Quill already out.

"So, Harry… what made you decide to enter the Triwizard Tournament?" she asked in a reporter voice.

"First off, I didn't enter the Tournament in the first place, and second, I never gave my permission for this interview to take place and was taken, against my will I will add, and stuffed into a broom cupboard," said Harry, acting as though he knew what he was doing. "With that evidence in the way, which I can produce in a Pensieve, I could have you tried for kidnapping a minor, Miss Skeeter," he finished, watching the reporter turn red in embarrassment.

"Nonsense Harry, nobody is kidnapping you, our rabid readers are just dying to know about you and why you entered into the Tournament," she replied, attempting to dance over the minefield.

"However, I have not given you permission to conduct this interview, and have been dragged here against my will, therefore I believe I will be going, since I have already stated that I did not enter this tournament and you have not believed me, therefore, I can provide you with no new information Miss Skeeter," said Harry, an air of finality in his voice, as he walked out of the cupboard and shut the door in her face. Harry quickly aimed his wand at the ceiling.

"_Adversus Sepulchrum_," muttered Harry, sending a small orb of gravity up towards the ceiling. With his handiwork finished, Harry traipsed upstairs to the other champions.

"Ah Harry, glad you could join us, do you know where Miss Skeeter has gone to?" asked Bagman jovially, clapping Harry on the shoulder as he lined up next to Krum. At that moment, a small shriek of surprise was heard, accompanied by a thump.

"I'm sure she's just hanging around somewhere," replied Harry, succeeding in keeping a straight face, while Bagman and the school head's went down to get her, Dumbledore looking at Harry briefly, his eyes twinkling merrily.

"What did you do Arry?" asked Fleur, a hint of amusement hidden in her voice. She knew well what Harry could do with a wand and a good bit of humour.

"Fleur, you wound me so, why do you suspect me?" said Harry in mock hurt, clutching his heart as though in pain.

"Probably because it vas you," said Krum, smirking slightly at Harry's indignant look, which quickly turned to a grin as he heard a peeling sound from below.

"I used a Gravity Reversing spell so that when somebody walked under it, it would suck them up into the roof, which I conveniently put a Quick Dry Paint spell on, something of my own creation," reported Harry, causing Fleur to giggle and Cedric and Krum to snicker. They all put on straight faces as the judges returned, though it became quite hard to keep them on, when Rita Skeeter returned, her face red from anger and embarrassment, her hair stuck up at odd angles and, funniest of all, rainbow coloured paint all over her back in a polka dot fashion.

"Well, now that Miss Skeeter has been removed from the ceiling," started Dumbledore, receiving a glare from said reporter. "May I introduce, Mr Ollivander?" finished Dumbledore, taking his place at the judges table. "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the Tournament." Harry looked over at the window, seeing the old wizard standing quietly in the shadows. The last time Harry had seen the man he had been in bad condition, having been kept prisoner for over a year and tortured.

The Wand Weighing went for a long time, as did the photographs, though there were at least several changes to them this time. Krum was more willing to be in the photos, knowing that they would last longer if he tried to hide in the back, and Fleur, whenever made to come forward, seemed to drag Harry with her each time. Finally, the last photo was taken, a group shot of all the champions, the only photo they would all admit to have enjoyed. Harry actually smiled a little as he remembered it, Krum standing tall and actually smiling for once, Fleur, beautiful as always, laughing as a grinning Cedric put Harry in a headlock, who was grinning at the camera as well.

"Well, it went better this time round," Harry said to himself, sitting alone at the Gryffindor table, eating a slice of steak and kidney pie. He finished and started heading up to the Common Room, thinking about finishing off an essay, when he encountered Ron in their dormitory.

"You've had an owl," said Ron shortly, indicating to a school barn owl, perched on his pillow.

"Thanks," replied Harry, keeping his answer just as short. Harry continued to the letter, while Ron kept walking away. Harry unrolled the letter and, with a pounding heart, realised it was Sirius' letter. It had just occurred to him that he now had the opportunity to once again talk to his Godfather. He could barely contain his excitement, as he laid down on his four poster bed, taking out the Marauders Map.

"In between Voldemort, meeting Sirius again and a certain lovely Veela, this looms to be an interesting year for me," said Harry, grinning as he spied the names Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in a broom cupboard on the third floor. With that, Harry set off for the third floor, armed with a wand, a couple of Dungbombs and a dangerous sense of humour. "I'd say I deserve a treat after today, I'm sure embarrassing Malfoy will be fun."

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and there we have it, another chapter down. that was one of my longer ones, roughly 3,000 words. anyway, i can't make any promises on when a new chapter will be out, but hopefully not so long since i got over my writers block and i'll have a holiday coming up in a couple weeks where i can hopefully sit down and type up a few chapters. in any case, i'll have to have the story finished before i leave for Europe, since i'll be there for over a year. ja ne peoples, reviews always welcome :)


	7. Training, Hogsmeade and the Godfather

hello again, Moonlight Ace here! Finally, another new chapter, and this one wasn't nearly as long a wait as previous ones. sure, it took awhile, but less than a month isn't bad? not great, but better than my usual standard :P anyway, disclaimer time: I sadly do not own Harry Potter, nor Bleach, which i have added a couple of elements into, though it will be a rather minor part of the story, no added characters or whatnot. This chapter is brought to you by Hired Goons Inc, pay for six hits and the seventh is free. and, onto chapter 7 :D

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Harry woke up, feeling very much like staying in bed until the first task. It had been over a week since the release of Skeeter's article on the Triwizard Tournament and, despite his efforts to avoid it, her article on him had returned as nasty as the first time.

"I wonder if she's susceptible to bug spray in her human form," muttered Harry, pulling on his robes. Thankfully the insults this time had been kept more manageable, since Hufflepuff was much more civil this time, with Ravenclaw following their example. Slytherin was still a royal pain, but Harry was more than happy to curse them or prank them, especially since Snape was punishing the other houses less and less. Snape's change in behaviour had been noticed by everybody by now, since he had taken to being more bearable during class, while keeping his insults to a minimum, though whenever he caught Harry's eye, Harry could see things in their that he had never seen in the Potions Master's eyes. Regret, sadness and confusion were just a few things, though Snape had yet to question Harry on his knowledge of the relationship between Snape and his mother. Harry set off downstairs, heading to meet up with Fleur, Cedric and Krum, who he was going to practice with today for the upcoming tasks.

"Hey there Harry, running late too?" asked Cedric, as he too came jogging down from the Hufflepuff dorms.

"Yeah, I slept in," replied Harry, grinning a bit at his fellow champion. They both set off together, arriving at the Entrance Hall, only to find that Fleur and Krum were already there. Fleur glared at them both as they arrived.

"Any reason you are late, Arry?" asked Fleur in a sickly sweet voice, a voice that promised pain.

"Now Fleur, you wouldn't hit a man with glasses would you?" asked Harry hopefully.

"Non, I would never it a man with glasses. I would it him with something much larger and eavier," she said, absently hovering a fireball in one hand. Krum and Cedric were snickering, as their friend was chased around the Hall by a fire wielding Veela. Cedric however, was forced to stop laughing when Fleur, remembering that he was also late, started chasing him down as well. An exhausted Harry would always remember this as the first time he had seen Viktor Krum, international Quidditch star, rolling on the ground laughing at the two of them.

After their little escapade, Harry led the champions up to the seventh floor, where he opened up the Room of Requirement, astounding the three of them.

"I've never seen this place before," exclaimed Cedric, as the door opened into a fully sized duelling stadium, with two comfortable looking chairs on the side for people to watch, and several modified training dummies against the far wall.

"I remember zis room from ze battle at Ogwarts, but last time eet was much different," said Fleur in awe, as she seated herself in one of the chairs.

"This is truly an amazing room, ve haff nothing like this at Durmstrang," said Krum, ever stoic but with an intrigued look on his face.

"This is the Room of Requirement, a room that will fashion itself to include whatever you need," explained Harry, walking over to an empty spot near Fleur. "For example, if we were to require additional chairs," began Harry, sitting down on a chair that had just appeared exactly behind him, causing the other three people in the room to look around the room in awe.

"Incredible. If only I had known about this earlier," said Cedric loudly, groaning in frustration while the others laughed.

"Well, enough of admiring the scenery, let's get down to some practice," exclaimed Harry. The others nodded their agreement, as they all stood up to begin.

"Vell, since ve haff to also prepare for fighting against more than just the Tasks, I think that ve should fight fire vith fire," said Krum, getting puzzled glances from Cedric and Fleur but one of understanding from Harry.

"So, in other words, you think we should learn some Dark spells as well?" asked Harry, while the other two, at Krum's nod, scowled.

"Why should we learn Dark magic?" asked Cedric with a touch of anger, while Fleur agreed.

"Personally, I agree with Krum," said Harry, getting shocked looks. "It's only Dark if it's cast with dark intentions, and I think it would throw them off if we use a Dark spell," reasoned Harry. Finally, Cedric and Fleur reluctantly agreed.

"So, will we also get to learn some of your spells Harry?" asked Cedric, getting a confused look in return. "You're practice duel with Moody went around pretty quick," said Cedric in reply, getting a nod from Harry.

Okay, that's fine with me, what should we learn first?" asked Harry.

"I would like to learn the Dark spells first, so we have something to look forward to after, when we learn Arry's spells, non?" asked Fleur, getting agreement from her friends.

"Okay, Krum, no offense but since Durmstrang placed a lot of focus on Dark spells, would you be able to teach us a few first?" asked Harry carefully, making sure not to anger him.

"No offense taken my friend, I vood be happy to teach you," replied Krum, walking over to the practice dummies, which suddenly multiplied about 4 times. Krum pointed his wand at one of the dummies. "_Sanguine furtur,"_ he intoned loudly, sending a sickly red bolt of energy flying at one of the dummies, which had been charmed to become more human, with real flesh and bone as well. When the spell hit the dummy, its skin began to turn white and shrivel up, before it fell to the floor with a clunking sound.

"What was that spell?" asked Cedric in puzzlement.

"It vanishes all the blood in a person's body," said Krum, drawing disgusted looks at the dummy.

"That's a nasty bugger," said Harry, grimacing at the broken dummy. With a wave of his wand, he repaired it. "Anything else that might come in handy?" asked Harry.

"I try not to use much Dark magic, but this one might be useful," replied Krum, now pointing his wand at several of the dummies. "_Testa ferri_," he said once more, causing several black pieces of metal to shoot out of his wand in a random pattern, spearing through several dummies, causing the other champions to wince.

"Do we even want to know?" asked Cedric, still rather disturbed by the last curse.

"Shrapnel curse, it causes large pieces of shrapnel to shoot out in a manner similar to a bomb being let off, so its hard to judge where it will hit," explained Harry, having already seen the curse. "It's not a very pleasant one," he ended.

"Oui, not at all," agreed Fleur, who looked a little pale.

"I think, for now, maybe we should settle on learning something a little… not as disturbing," said Cedric, getting agreement from everybody else. Harry pointed his wand directly at a far dummy.

"_Lancea fulgur," _he shouted, causing a bolt of blue lightning to zigzag out of his wand, before splitting off and electrocuting three separate dummies. As Harry holstered his wand, the other three stared at him in amazement. Well, Cedric and Krum did, Fleur had already learned the spell from him in the future.

"You have GOT to teach us that Harry," said Cedric, while Krum nodded.

"Will do, but right now, I think we should learn a few spells of my own invention, but to do that I need to give you a bit of a rundown on some spell theory," said Harry, sitting down on a squashy armchair that had appeared next to him. Krum and Cedric also sat down in armchairs, while Fleur, to Harry's embarrassment and pleasure, sat down in Harry's chair, leaning against his back with her head against his shoulder. Shrugging off Cedric and Krum's snickers, Harry began his explanation.

"Okay, as you all know, most spells are said in Latin, but, what most people don't know is that spells don't necessarily HAVE to be said in Latin, though there are very few that are said in other languages," started Harry, drawing intrigued looks from the champions. "I found several spells in Spanish, as well as several in German, but the most powerful ones I found were in Japanese, most particularly, spells that were once used by ancient Japanese magical beings," he continued, only to be cut off by Cedric.

"Yeah, my dad took me to Japan once when I was younger, he said that the magical community in Kyoto was one of the biggest in the world, and that they were some of the first magic users in existence. Harry nodded at this.

"Indeed, that is the reason I went to study it after the war. The ancient spirits, known as Shinigami, were well versed in an ancient form of magic known as Kido, which translates as demon magic. This particular brand of magic has been mostly unused since the Shinigami died out, but I found several old spells that I was able to use, though they are very draining to use so they are last resort spells. I was also able to create new spells using Japanese as a basis for them," ended Harry, standing up (Much to Fleur's disappointment) and pointing his hand at the dummy.

"_Bakudo no Yon, Hainawa,"_ shouted Harry, a beam of light shooting out of his hand and coiling around one of the dummies, in a manner akin to a rope. But Harry wasn't finished yet. "_Hado no Juichi, Tsuzuri Raiden,"_ he shouted, slashing his hand down the rope, sending an electric current down the rope and incinerating the dummy on contact. Finally, Harry pulled back his hand and pointed it at the last group of dummies.

"_Hado no_ _Rokujusan, Souen Soukatsui,"_ he ended, sending two massive blasts of blue fire at the dummies, obliterating them into ash. He turned back to the other champions, seeing Fleur looking normal, since she had seen it before, while Cedric and Krum's jaws were almost touching the ground.

"You're letting in ze flies," teased Fleur, causing both boys to close their mouths.

"Kido is split up into two separate categories, those being the Binding spells, and the Destruction spells, and each one is numbered, the higher the number, the more powerful and draining the spell," said Harry, sitting down with a bit of a sigh against Fleur, slightly tired after using the spells, though grateful for Fleur's soft chest to lean against.

"So, shall we get down to business then?" asked Cedric hopefully, grinning at the other champions, who all grinned back.

A few hours later, Harry walked up to the common room, having just walked Fleur back to the Beauxbatons Carriage (amidst snickers from Cedric and Krum, though Harry had pointed out that he needed to walk a beautiful lady back) and was now being convinced to go to Hogsmeade with her, though he again insisted on wearing his Invisibility Cloak, much to Hermione's chagrin. Less than two hours later, Harry was happily munching on a large cream filled chocolate from Honeydukes. If there was anything he would stop happening in this future, he would stop Honeydukes from being destroyed when the Death Eaters came, such good chocolate must be kept at all costs. They eventually made it to the Three Broomsticks, where Harry was once again sorely tempted to poke Ron in the back of the head while he was invisible, but settled for casting an Unravelling Charm and a Notice-Me-Not Charm on Malfoy, so that his pants would be slowly unravelling once he left, though it would go unnoticed until both charms wore off.

"_In roughly… 3 hours,"_ Harry thought to himself, chuckling evilly under his cloak, causing people to look around for the source of the evil laughter. Just as he also remembered, Hagrid and the fake Moody came by their table, where Hagrid told Harry to come to his cabin at midnight.

"Just what I need, a moonlight stroll with Hagrid, Madame Maxime and 4 vicious, fire-breathing dragons," muttered Harry under his breath, as Hermione continued looking through her SPEW lists. It was only during what would have been their first year out of Hogwarts that Hermione discovered that Elves needed to be in the presence of wizards, as they drew their own magic from the wizards they lived with, working for them in payment, working in a sort of symbiotic nature. After coming to this realization, Hermione was appalled that she had not known about this and was very upset about it for a while. Harry never told her about it, but the fact that Dobby had spent so long being unemployed until he went to Hogwarts, and then after when he was away from it and helping to get them away from Malfoy Manor, was a contributing factor as to why he was unable to properly heal himself after Bellatrix stabbed him. If she had known that she could have taken Dobby as a house elf, therefore helping him, there would have been no telling how she would've reacted. Suddenly, realization hit Harry like a Bludger.

"Dobby," whispered Harry, which was unfortunately heard by Hermione.

"Wasn't Dobby the elf that kept trying to send you home when the Chamber of Secrets was opened?" asked Hermione, startling him.

"Y-yeah, crazy little blighter," stammered Harry, though his mind was going wild now. Dobby was alive again!

"Actually, I think I need to go sorry Hermione, I have some things I need to pick up here," said Harry, making up an excuse.

"Oh, I'll go with you, I was getting kind of bored anyway," she replied brightly, putting away her notes.

"Umm, okay sure," said Harry, wondering what he was going to do now. The two left the Three Broomsticks and headed towards a clothing shop. He hadn't thought about it since had arrived back in his fourth year, but there certainly many faces he couldn't wait to see. Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Dobby and many more he could now save. Harry walked over to the clothes section, finally having taken off his cloak. Hermione raised an eyebrow as she saw him taking seven pairs of socks to the register.

"Seven pairs Harry?" she asked sceptically, making Harry pause.

"Well, I find myself needing more socks, so I thought, one for each day of the week would be good," he covered, remembering that he still owed Dobby for his help last time in the second task. On his way to the register though, something caught his eye in the jewellery section. Quickly grabbing it while Hermione was looking at some robes, he made his way to the register, where a bored looking blonde girl packed it for him after he had paid.

Harry and Hermione made it back to the castle where, after Hermione had gone to the library, Harry set off in the direction of the kitchens, running into Cedric as he walking past the door that led to the kitchens.

"Hey, what are you doing down here Harry?" asked Cedric, looking slightly confused.

"Oh, just going to the kitchens," replied Harry, reaching towards the pear in the painting.

"Wait, you mean the kitchens are down here?" asked Cedric in amazement, making Harry stop in his move to open the door.

"You mean, after your entire stay at Hogwarts, while being the closest to the kitchens, you never knew they were down here?" asked Harry blankly.

"Umm, yeah, I never knew they were here," said Cedric awkwardly. A moment of silence passed before Harry collapsed to the floor, laughing himself stupid. Cedric stood there, slightly annoyed for the next minute or so, while Harry tried to stop laughing, and failed dismally.

"You know, it's not THAT funny," said Cedric huffily, while a gasping Harry stood back up.

"No, it's pretty funny," wheezed Harry.

"Well, are you going to show me the kitchens then, Boy-Who-Laughed?" asked Cedric sarcastically.

"Sure, but you know, that was payback for this morning, when you were laughing at me getting chased by Fleur when she was hurling fireballs," replied Harry, finally stopping his laughs, though he was still grinning. He reached towards the painting of the bowl of fruit, before tickling the pear, which began to giggle before turning into a bright green doorknob.

"A word of advice though, one of the elves in here saved our lives by rescuing us from a Death Eater's house in the future, and he died to save us, and that exact elf is about to come shooting like a bullet so be on guard," explained Harry, Cedric's face going from solemn about Dobby's sacrifice, to confused.

"What's a bullet exactly Harry?" he asked, as Harry began opening the door.

"Uh, I'll tell you another time," replied Harry quickly, as he caught sight of a familiar looking elf.

"Harry Potter sir!" cried Dobby, knocking all the wind out of Harry as he hugged him tight around his midriff, though Harry was very happy to see him nonetheless. Even his horrible assortment of odd clothes was good to see once more.

"Dobby has been hoping and hoping to see Harry Potter, sir, and Harry Potter has come to see him, sir!" squealed Dobby excitedly, while Cedric smiled at the reunion.

"It's very good to see you again Dobby, how have you been? Is Winky here too?" asked Harry, almost as excited to see the little elf. The last time he had seen the elf was when he was forced to bury his friend.

"Yes, Winky is here too Harry Potter, sir," said Dobby, seizing Harry's hand excitedly and leading him through the kitchen, with Cedric trotting alongside. Winky didn't look any better than the last time, which got Harry to thinking what he could do to help her. Cedric was more than impressed with the elves service, and even asked for a few more things he could bring to his dorm, which the elves delightedly began gathering, while Dobby personally went to get several things Harry had asked for, looking very happy with himself indeed. Dobby's eyes were brimming with tears when Harry presented him with the seven pairs of socks he had picked out for him, hugging Harry very hard and proclaiming how Harry Potter was the kindest, most noble wizard ever, much to Harry's embarrassment and Cedric's amusement. The two boys soon left the kitchens with the promise that they would come back to visit soon.

"Thanks for that Harry, can't believe they were so eager as well, they just give you whatever you want, just like that," exclaimed Cedric excitedly, looking very much like a child who had just been given free reign in a sweet shop.

"Yeah, they sure are eager to please, I bet if you said you were peckish for ox they'd grill a whole one for you," chuckled Harry, carrying a large bag of goodies to bring back to the common room. Harry bade Cedric farewell, as Harry continued up to the common room.

It was almost midnight when Harry made it to Hagrid's hut, though it was still just as last time, with Hagrid taking very little notice of Harry and much more notice of the large woman on his arm. It would've gone almost the same as last time, except for a certain Veela jumping out at him.

"Why are you trying to give me a heart attack Fleur?" asked Harry, after he had found his heartbeat back to normal again.

"Well, I remembered zis was ze night where you found out about ze dragons, so I thought you might enjoy some company," said Fleur, smiling brightly at him.

"Fair enough," agreed Harry, pulling out two peppermint-flavoured Honeydukes chocolates, making Fleur smile widely at him. During the time they spent together after their breakups with their respective Weasley, Harry learned a lot of things about Fleur, and vice-versa, and one of the things that he remembered well was that Fleur absolutely adored peppermint of any description.

"Oh Arry, you are so sweet," she cooed, cradling her chocolate like a mother would a first born child, while Harry chuckled, slipping his hand into hers as they walked towards where Hagrid and Madame Maxime were, still under the Invisibility Cloak. Harry and Fleur looked out into the dragon enclosure, both with a bit of anticipation, though Fleur had a look of annoyance on her face.

"You ad better ope I am feeling generous come Tuesday, Mon ami écailleuse," hissed Fleur, while Harry looked somewhat amused at this.

"My scaly friend?" asked Harry, grinning at the glaring Veela.

"It burned my skirt last time, do you ave any idea ow embarrassing eet is to be in front of thousands of people with an already short skirt that just got the ends of it singed off?" asked a still glaring Fleur.

"Well, given your wording, no I can't say that I've ever found myself standing in front of thousands of people wearing a skirt," laughed Harry, causing Fleur to giggle, before she swatted him on the shoulder.

"Prat," she said, giggling at him.

"Never should've taught you that word," groaned Harry, making Fleur giggle more.

"Arry, you should be going soon, non? Eet is almost time for you to meeting Sirius," reminded Fleur, causing Harry to grin.

"Yeah, I should go. I can't wait to see him again," said Harry, smiling happily. Fleur smiled and hugged him tightly, happy for Harry that he could finally see the man he most thought of as a father. Harry leapt up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room two at a time, his excitement building. Finally, at just after 1 in the morning, Harry saw it, his godfather's face in the fire, just as he remembered him.

"Hey, Sirius," greeted Harry, his heart hammering in excitement.

"How are you Harry? Keeping out of trouble?" asked Sirius.

"Fat chance, I'm dad's son and your godson, how could I keep myself from pranking people?" asked Harry, grinning at his godfather, who was now grinning widely.

"So, finally taken up the age old art of pranking have you?" replied Sirius, still grinning as though Christmas had come early.

"Sirius, how soon can you come here? There's something I really need to talk to you about, but I need to do it face to face, there's too much chance of someone walking in on a long conversation here," explained Harry, having seen Sirius' eyebrow raise at his first question.

"Sure Harry, I'll be there as soon as I can, but that probably won't be until after Christmas I'm afraid. Still, I needed to warn you about Karkaroff," said Sirius urgently.

"I know, he's a Death Eater," said Harry, shocking Sirius. "Sirius, a lot of what I need to tell you will explain why I knew that, and why I also already have a plan to beat this first task, but I need to tell you some other time," said Harry seriously. Sirius looked into his godson's eyes for a moment, before nodding.

"Okay Harry, I'll trust you on this one. Just promise me you'll be careful," answered Sirius.

"I will, I promise I will," agreed Harry.

"I think I here someone getting back Harry, I'd better go, make sure you're serious about this upcoming task though," said Sirius.

"Hey, I thought you were the Sirius one around here," joked Harry. Sirius gave a bark of laughter.

"Haven't heard that one for many years now Harry, you really are James' son," he replied, smiling at his godson. "I'll see you soon Harry," he said, before there was a small popping sound, then Sirius' head vanished from the fire. Harry smiled at the crackling fire, before he dragged himself to bed, realising how tired he was. He flopped down onto his bed and fell asleep almost instantly, a smile still playing on his lips.

* * *

and thats a wrap people. another chapter done, and i hope people like it very much as i have enjoyed writing it. this one was pretty big, over 4,000 words this time, i think i'm getting better at this :P up next time, The First Task: Take Two, and we'll be able to see all the new strategies of each of the champions this time. tune in and review everybody!


	8. The First Task: Take Two

Greetings everybody, another chapter up, and this time it didn't take me an age to write. truthfully it was almost finished about 3 days ago, but i had a minor case of writer's block, so i couldn't think too straight. Hopefully everybody enjoys the newest of my chapter's almost as much as the last have been enjoyed and remember, if you want to put in a suggestion, the only way i can know is by reviews so review review review!

This chapter is brought to you by Moonlight Ace, sorry but i'm not going to go through not having any sponsors again, it makes me sad not to have any yet :(... Enjoy!

* * *

Harry couldn't help but feel somewhat anxious for the first task to happen. Sure, he had done it once before, and he knew a lot more advanced magic at this stage, but he was now going with a new strategy completely. He and the other champions had decided that, in order to keep things interesting this time around, they should all go with different strategies for at least the first two tasks, something Harry was feeling somewhat regretful of now. Of course, he still had things to do after the task that had his anxiety even worse. The fake Moody had once more tried to help Harry with the task in his subtle ways, and it was all Harry could do to stop him from trying out the Shrapnel Curse on him. Harry had a plan that he and Fleur had been working on for the false Moody, but they would wait until the conclusion of the first task. Still, Harry was anxious about how well he would do against the dragon this time.

"Potter, the champions have to come down into the grounds now…you have to get ready for your first task," said Professor McGonagall, in a broken sort of voice, as though afraid for his safety. Harry was surprised at how quickly the morning had passed once more, though his anxiety lingered, he had also developed a sense of excitement.

"Good luck Harry," whispered Hermione, as he left his seat. "You'll be fine!"

"Thanks Mione, I know it'll work out," grinned Harry, surprising his Head of House with the confidence in his voice. And something else that sounded almost like… excitement? Harry followed Professor McGonagall down the stone steps towards the dragon enclosure, seeing Cedric following Professor Sprout out of the corner of his eye. Cedric noticed him and grinned at him, giving him thumbs up, which Harry returned in full force. Professor McGonagall continued to go over the safety measures and kept stressing that he keep a cool head. It seemed everybody thought he didn't have a cool head, which was, admittedly, probably true. They reached the champions tent where a very shaky Professor McGonagall bade him farewell and good luck. Harry entered the tent, instantly seeing the difference in the atmosphere from last time. Krum was leaning against a pole in deep thought, though he nodded respectfully at Harry as he entered, Cedric was shuffling a pack of cards absentmindedly, and Fleur had been grinning evilly from her perch on a couch, though she leapt up and hugged him tightly upon his entrance, amusing both other boys, while Bagman looked somewhat surprised by this, though he quickly dismissed it before greeting Harry. Just as Harry remembered, he was wearing his old Wasp's robes again, the black and yellow reminding him of a rather fat bee.

"Harry! Good-oh! Come in, make yourself at home," he announced happily, somewhat disturbed though, seeing all the champions looking not at all anxious, as though they had no idea what awaited them.

"Well, now that we're all here – time to fill you in!" said Bagman brightly. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag" – the held up a small sack of purple silk, shaking it at them a little – "from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different – er – varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too… ah yes…your task is to collect the _golden egg_!"

Harry looked around. Cedric was still shuffling his cards, though he nodded once to show his understanding. Krum smirked confidently, while Fleur was looking very hopeful about something. Soon enough, the audience had arrived, and Bagman was offering the neck of the bag to Fleur.

"Ladies first," he said jovially. Fleur reached her hand inside the bag and pulled out a tiny, living model of a Welsh Green, the number 'two' around its neck. Harry saw Fleur licking her lips in anticipation, remembering their conversation recently. Harry could have sworn he had seen the model dragon flinch.

"Feel sorry for that poor dragon," muttered Harry, so that only Fleur heard him. She grinned at him, as she continued to look excited. Next was Krum, who surprised him by drawing the squirming model of the Swedish Short-Snout, the dragon Cedric had previously faced, a number 'one' around its neck. Krum was also looking surprised, though he hit it well. Cedric was next, and Harry almost groaned when he pulled out the Chinese Fireball, a number 'three' around its neck. Cedric grinned at him, knowing what he was getting. And sure enough, Harry pulled out the Hungarian Horntail, which bared its tiny fangs at him.

"Well, there we are!" said an ever jovial Bagman. "You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you for a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr Krum, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now… Harry… could I have a quick word? Outside?"

"Sure Mr Bagman," replied Harry, getting up and outside the tent with Bagman. He knew what the man was doing.

"_May as well make the most of it_," thought Harry.

"Feeling all right, Harry? Anything I can get you?" asked Bagman once they got a little ways from the tent.

"If it's not too much trouble Mr Bagman, sir, I have a strategy to deal with my dragon, but I'm feeling quite nervous, and I think Cedric and Miss Delacour are as well. I'm sorry to bother you, but I don't suppose you could grab us a drink, and maybe a couple of chocolate frogs? To calm down a bit?" asked Harry, doing his very best to sound nervous and frightened, while also trying not to laugh.

"Of course Harry, I'll go get some refreshments, but is there anything you need help with your dragon?" replied Bagman with a fatherly tone.

"No thank you Mr Bagman, sir, thank you very much sir," said Harry, pretending to look relieved. "I'll do my very best to win," he added, much to Bagman's delight. Bagman quickly called for a house elf to bring out some refreshments, who returned moments later with a cooler filled with ice, which had four Butterbeers in it, as well as a dozen Chocolate Frogs. Suddenly, a whistle went off somewhere.

"Good lord, I've got to run! Good luck with the task Harry!" called Bagman, as he hurried off. Harry smirked as he returned to the tent, the cooler in his arms. The other champions raised their eyebrows at him.

"Bagman wanted to offer me help, and I let slip that I was feeling nervous and in need of refreshment," said a grinning Harry in answer to their unasked question. Cedric grinned at him as he tossed him a Butterbeer, while Krum snorted in appreciation at Harry's way of doing things, also accepting a Butterbeer with a grateful smile. Fleur helped him set the cooler down, before she took a bottle, as well as a couple of chocolate frogs. They all clinked their Butterbeers together in cheers before drinking deeply.

"Everybody got their viewing orbs ready?" asked Harry, getting affirmative nods from everybody. The day before, they all got together and designed crystal ball's that could be used to see what the commentator could see, so long as they had stuck an orb on him, which Krum had managed to by shrinking the orb to an almost invisible size and placing both a Notice-Me-Not Charm and a timed Sticking Charm, which was timed to release after the first task had ended. This way, they were able to see what each of the champions was doing against their respective dragon. Suddenly, the whistle went off again, and Krum stepped up. They all wished him good luck before he exited the tent. They all turned on their viewing orbs, seeing from Bagman's point of view.

"Hey guys, wasp cam," joked Harry, getting laughs from his fellow champions about Bagman's choice of clothing. They all turned their attention to their fellow champion.

* * *

Krum stood out in the enclosure, looking up into the eyes of the Swedish Short-Snout. Truly it was a marvellous creature, at roughly 25 feet long, its body a silvery blue colour. Its beady eyes watched Krum, as he walked through the gate and into the enclosure, where the crowd cheered for the Quidditch star. Krum could see the golden egg amongst the real ones, its surface reflecting the sunlight. He stared up at his dragon, which belched a line of brilliant blue flames into the air.

"Ladies and gentlemen, students and teachers, we welcome each and every one of you to the opening of the Triwizard Tournament's First Task," came the voice of Bagman, amplified by his wand. "Each of our competitors will have to get past their respective dragon and retrieve a golden egg from the dragon's nest, after which they will be judged. We will be starting with Mr Viktor Krum, and his opponent, the Swedish Short-Snout! Let the task BEGIN!" thundered Bagman, just as the cannon went off, and Krum stepped into the enclosure proper. Krum wasn't taking any chances with this dragon, he immediately conjured a slab of marble, excellently blocking a blast of fire sent from the Short-Snout. Going over his plan in his head, Krum banished the scorched marble at the dragon's head and ran closer towards the dragon, which had just bitten the marble into dust, which was just what Krum was hoping for.

"_Vis aeris!"_ yelled Krum, conjuring a tornado and sending it into the dust storm that had been created from the remains of the marble from earlier. The tornado wrapped around the dust and became a dust twister, which was sent into the face of the dragon, affecting its sense of smell as well as its vision, though it was not enough to pain it, only enough to irritate it.

"Oh, an excellent display of magic by Mr Krum," came the voice of the commentator, while the crowd cheered wildly. The dragon shook its great head, attempting to clear its eyes and nose, while Krum ran around it, attempting to get to the egg, but was continually blocked by its whip like tail. Realising he would have to go with plan B, Krum headed towards its feet, causing many people to gasp.

"What's Mr Krum doing?" yelled Bagman in his amplified voice, while Karkaroff gripped the edge of his seat in anxiousness. Krum reached the ground at the dragon's feet and began using his wand to cut gouges into the ground, making a drawing of some description into the ground near the dragon. A ball of blue fire shot out of the dragon's nose in an attempt to get some of the dust out, the fireball impacting with the side of Krum's jacket. He quickly backed off, his work finished, before putting the fire out with water from his wand. He pointed his wand at the gouges in the ground.

"_Terra carcer!" _shouted Krum, causing bars of earth to shoot out of the carvings on the ground, effectively trapping the dragon's legs, since despite its best efforts, the dragon was unable to move either way. Using the _Vis aeris _spell again, Krum launched himself over the dragon and quickly scooped up his egg, much to the astonishment of the Hogwarts students and the elation of the Durmstrang ones, who all began stamping their feet in wild excitement.

"How about that folks! Mr Krum has just retrieved his egg in six minutes and twenty three seconds!" shouted Bagman, shock and amazement in his voice, though few heard it over the wild cheering of the Durmstrang students and their overjoyed Headmaster.

* * *

Meanwhile, the other champions were sitting in the tent, nibbling on chocolate frogs as they watched Krum finish against his dragon.

"Well, that certainly was impressive," said Cedric, watching as Krum went to the medical tent to be checked for injuries. "But personally, I think he made it rather flashy, I think he'll be getting an interview or two about this," Cedric grinned at this, while Harry felt sorry for Krum.

"Quiet, ze judges are going to give im is score," hissed Fleur, sitting once more across Harry's lap. The three watched as Krum stepped out to see his score. Madame Maxime was first to judge, a silvery ribbon shooting out of her wand and twisting to form a large eight.

"Pretty decent, but I guess she took marks off for getting burned," said Cedric, watching as Crouch shot a nine into the air, while Dumbledore surprised them by shooting up a ten.

"E certainly marks with more fairness zen Karkaroff," mused Fleur, watching as Bagman gave him a nine as well. They didn't need to see Karkaroff's score to see the ten that he had given him.

"Well, I guess that was bound to happen," said Harry, shrugging slightly as Fleur rested her beautiful head against his chest. The whistle sounding told them that Fleur was up. Fleur pouted slightly, but got off of Harry and began walking to the tent entrance.

"Good luck Fleur," chorused the remaining champions. Fleur turned back to look at them, before grinning evilly.

"I do not zink it is moi that you should be giving your luck to," she said, before exiting. Harry winced, feeling the evil just rolling off that smile, while Cedric shuddered.

"That poor dragon," said Harry, shaking his head, while Cedric sent a silent prayer for the poor reptile.

* * *

Fleur grinned up at her dragon, an evil glint present in her blue eyes. The great Welsh Green looked down at her in puzzlement, since not many humans looked upon it with such a look. It was actually starting to creep out the dragon. The Beauxbatons students cried out in encouragement to Fleur, while Bagman presented again.

"Let the second round BEGIN!" he yelled, as the gate unlocked and Fleur stepped into the enclosure. Meanwhile, both Harry and Cedric were watching in fear for the dragon, as the Beauxbatons champion forwent her wand, instead transforming into her true Veela form, sprouting feathers on her arms as her body became surrounded in fire. The girl used her new speed to try and get to her egg, but the dragon was faster and was able to stop her, much to Fleur's annoyance. She held out her hand and formed a fireball in it, before hurling it at the dragon's head. As the crowd watched, the fireball split into five separate attacks and simultaneously hit the dragon in the chin, causing it to let out a bellow of pain and anger. Cedric winced at the dragon's treatment, before turning to Harry.

"Forget protecting the champions, who's going to protect the dragon?" he joked weakly, while Harry nodded numbly. It wasn't his first time having seen her transformation, since she had also transformed when she found out about Bill's cheating. Except that time it had been harsher, and Bill had ended up in St Mungo's being treated for burns in very sensitive areas. Harry could have sworn he had seen her release about ten fireballs in about 5 seconds. Wincing, Harry looked back at the match. Fleur had returned to normal, though she looked tired and her dragon looked, for lack of better description, pretty bloody scared of the beautiful girl.

"_With good reason too,"_ thought Harry, watching as Fleur pulled out her wand.

"_Vis aeris_!" cried Fleur, pointing her wand at the dragon's head. With that, air rushed in all directions around the dragon's head, snuffing out the fire it was getting ready to launch, as well as giving it slight oxygen starvation, causing the dragon to become dazed and confused. The Welsh Green was so dazed that it didn't even see Fleur creep between its legs and grab the golden egg, causing massive cheering from the Beauxbatons students.

"And thus ends the second champion's match against her dragon, rescuing her egg in five minutes and fifty two seconds!" announced Bagman, over the cheers of the audience, prominent were Madame Maxime's cries of joy for her student's spectacular performance.

* * *

Harry and Cedric watched as Fleur returned from the medical tent with a bandage on her leg, as she went to receive her marks.

"Sure hope we don't come back in time again. Now that she's been hit by the dragon again, I don't think the dragon would survive a third match against her," whispered Cedric to Harry, who chuckled.

"Yeah, its just as well we made her promise not to use those other spells we've been learning, she would have roasted the poor bugger in about ten seconds," he replied, thinking about what would have happened if she had tried Kido on it. They turned their attention back to their viewing orbs, watching Fleur receive her marks. She got a nine from Maxime, a nine from Crouch, a ten from Dumbledore and Bagman, and a six from Karkaroff.

"He's not going to be popular," muttered Harry. He was right, everybody from both Beauxbatons and Hogwarts were now booing at the Durmstrang headmaster.

"Well, looks like my turn then Harry. Wish me luck," said Cedric, walking to the tent entrance when the whistle sounded.

"Good luck, and try not to make it too boring," said Harry with a smirk. Cedric rolled his eyes and flipped him the bird before leaving for the dragon enclosure.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, our third match, with Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, against the fearsome Chinese Fireball!" bellowed Bagman, as a tumult of noise came from the Hogwarts students, the Hufflepuff's in particular. Cedric waved to his friends in the stands, before stepping into the ring as the cannon went off. Cedric wasn't showing it, but he was very nervous now. He had based his strategy on the dragon he had gotten last time, but he was now facing a different breed, so he was forced to think up a new strategy. He dodged a blast of crimson fire, before tossing several of his playing cards at the dragon, which flashed briefly and exploded into a smokescreen, giving Cedric time to get closer to the dragon, as it attempted to blow the smoke away.

"So, that's what the cards were for," mused Harry in the tent, grinning at his friend's resourcefulness. Thinking fast, Cedric took aim at the dragon's chest.

"_Lancea fulgur!"_ he shouted, a bolt of lightning shooting from his wand before splitting and striking the dragon from behind, sending the dragon lurching forward several steps.

"Mr Diggory has pulled the dragon away from its eggs, and what a display of astounding magic as well!" shouted Bagman into the audience, where several girls screamed their adoration for Cedric. Meanwhile, Cedric was trying to get past the dragon, but it was proving no easy task. He conjured another wall of earth to block some fire as he tried to remember what he knew about the oriental dragon, when he remembered something from _Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them_.

"_Of course, Chinese Fireballs are the most aggressive types of dragons,"_ thought Cedric, running out from his cover while pointing his wand at the ground near the enclosure gate where he came in.

"_Signum draconis!"_ yelled Cedric, causing a giant boulder to sprout from the ground and begin forming into something else. Cedric finished the transfiguration, as the Chinese Fireball gave a bellow of rage and began lumbering towards the giant stone statue of the Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon that had been bewitched to have the same colour as the dragon and to also roar. Cedric took his chance and began running at the eggs, hearing the sounds of stone being broken and a bellow from the dragon statue. The Chinese Fireball realised it had been tricked, but too late, as Cedric scooped up his egg, causing the crowd to go wild at the amazing performance.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Diggory has completed his challenge and collected his egg, at seven minutes and two seconds!" roared Bagman, with the Hufflepuff section of the crowd erupting in wild cheering. Cedric was somewhat disappointed that he had taken the longest, but felt good that he had come out of it without a giant burn like last time, though he could feel a bruise or two on his arms from the flying debris.

"And now, Mr Diggory will be scored by our judges," proclaimed Bagman, as Cedric stepped out of the medical tent. Cedric received a nine from Maxime, a ten from Crouch, a ten from Dumbledore, a nine from Bagman and a six from Karkaroff.

"And now, the last round of the first task, Mr Potter!" shouted Bagman, as the whistle was blown for the final time.

Harry stowed his viewing orb into his pocket as he walked out into the dragon enclosure.

* * *

"Well, well we meet again," said Harry quietly, smirking at the Hungarian Horntail, who roared at him and lashed its spiked tail in response.

"And now, the final round of the first task will begin, with our youngest champion, Mr Harry Potter, against the Hungarian Horntail!" shouted an over excited Bagman, amongst the loud noise of the crowd. Harry didn't care if they cheering for him or the Horntail, but he knew that if they were cheering for the dragon, there would be a lot of disappointment soon.

"Let the final round BEGIN!" yelled Bagman, as the cannon finally went off, and the Horntail was released_. Harry_ immediately conjured a large wall of stone to protect him, as he gathered his magical reserves to use the next few spells. It was almost 3 minutes afterwards that Harry's power was enough to use the required spells, just as the Horntail smashed through the wall with its tail.

"_Ingens aggere terrae_!" yelled Harry, as a surge of magical energy flowed out through his wand and hit the ground. A few seconds later, as the crowd began to wonder if he had made a mistake, everybody gasped in wonder, as a giant wall of earth surrounded the dragon in four directions, completely trapping it. But Harry was far from done.

"_Accio lake!"_ he shouted next, as a huge surge of water came flying out of the Black Lake, causing many peoples eyes to widen, including that of the Charms teacher, Professor Flitwick.

"Remarkable!" squeaked the tiny professor to his colleague, a stunned Professor McGonagall. "To be able to summon such a huge amount of anything without additional aid… I can honestly say that boy will be a fine wizard one day," said Professor Flitwick, quite proud of his student, while McGonagall could only nod. Harry directed the huge wave in the air and over the earth prison, where the dragon was scratching at the walls, attempting to break them. He then dumped the huge mass of water over the cage, while at the same time, shouting out another spell to finish it.

"_Ferro glaciem!"_ he cried, the spell freezing the falling water into the shape of a dome around both the dragon and the wall, the end result creating a giant prison around the dragon, which could be heard roaring and breathing fire, trying to get out, but to no avail. Those spells wouldn't last long against the dragon's fire, but ten minutes easily. With that done, Harry made his way to the golden egg and picked it up, amidst the cheering of the amazed audience.

"THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! In a spectacular display of magical prowess, Mr Potter has gained his egg in five minutes and fifty seconds, beating Miss Delacour's record by a mere two seconds and becoming the fastest champion to reach their egg! That'll certainly shorten the odds on Mr Potter!" yelled an ecstatic Bagman, as the audience cheered wildly, the Gryffindor's especially.

Harry was wept into a tumult of noise and cheering, as he was congratulated by practically half the school, though there were only two people he really wanted to speak to, those being his red-haired friend and a silver haired beauty. Finally, Harry was hoisted into the medical tent by a disgruntled Madam Pomfrey, though he caught the imposter Moody's eye, which looked startled from the level of magic he had displayed.

* * *

"Dragons," said Madam Pomfrey in disgust, as she checked him over. Finding no injuries, she let him get up to get his scores. He was almost out of the tent when an excitable Hermione shot into the tent, followed by a very pale looking Ron. Harry stared at Ron, while Hermione kept going on about the level of magic he had used, how it had amazed everybody. Finally, Ron opened his mouth, struggling to form words.

"Harry, whoever put your name in that goblet – I – I reckon they're trying to do you in!" he finally managed, looking down.

"Caught on have you?" asked Harry coldly. He had to at least pretend that he was a bit bitter. Ron opened his mouth, though Harry knew he was trying to apologise, when Harry held up his hand to stop him.

"It's ok, just forget it," he said, a weary smile making it onto his face.

"No," Ron started, "I shouldn't have –"

"Forget it," Harry grinned at his friend for the first time in weeks. Ron grinned back, albeit a little nervously. Hermione typically burst into tears, so Harry hugged her, still smiling, while Ron just shook his head, muttering about women. They made their way out of the tent to see Harry get scored, the whole time Ron was talking very fast about what the other champions had done, though Harry didn't tell him he had seen what they had done. Madame Maxime went first, raising her wand and shooting out a ribbon which twisted into a large ten. The crowd applauded wildly at this. Harry smirked when he saw Madame Maxime sit down, knowing that she had scored him based on his knowledge of spells that shouldn't be able to be used by a fourth year. Crouch was next, also shooting a ten, making the crowd cheer even louder.

"Looking good mate!" yelled Ron above the cheers, as Dumbledore stepped forward. Harry caught his eye, which was twinkling, as he shot up a large figure eight. This got many cheers as well, though they were slightly confused, since Dumbledore had not given his student full marks. Bagman predictably gave him a ten as well, causing many more cheers to erupt from the students. Lastly came Karkaroff, who looked as though he had been forced to swallow a lemon, when he shot a large figure eight into the air.

"_Probably the lowest he could give me without me getting a higher score than Krum,"_ thought Harry amusedly, while the crowd continued to cheer. Ron said he would wait, as Harry left for the champion's tent to receive information for the second task. Upon entering the tent, Bagman had not yet arrived, which was the only thing he had time to notice before Fleur was hugging him half to death.

"Arry, congratulations!" she yelled happily, squeezing him tightly, while Cedric and Krum chuckled in the background.

"You too Fleur, I kind of feel sorry for your dragon though," he replied, grinning a bit at her embarrassed blush.

"Ze reptile ad it coming," she defended weakly, as Bagman entered the tent. Bagman proceeded to congratulate them all, before giving them the information about the eggs and sending them off. Harry was walking back with Fleur, Cedric and Krum when Cedric asked him a question.

"So Harry, what do we have planned next? We have a while until the next task," he asked seriously, while the other two nodded their agreement. Harry stopped and looked at them.

"I already have a plan to deal with the fake Moody, but I need Dumbledore's help with it, so we don't need to worry about that for now. But I do have something I need to do now that this is finished, if you wanted to give me a hand with that," he said, looking around at them.

"You know we're here to help," said Cedric, grinning at him, while Krum nodded his agreement.

"Tell us what you need Arry, we will elp you owever we can," said Fleur, leaning on his arm. Harry grinned at all of them.

"In that case, how would you all like to come on a little trip with me this weekend?" he asked, getting puzzled looks from his fellow champions. "We're going on a Horcrux hunt."

* * *

And hooray! another chapter finished! please let me know how everybody enjoyed the new First Task, i was unsure while writing it to be perfectly honest. I have also realised that i have neglected to include translations for spells for most of the story, so i'll just quickly stick in here.

Reprimenda del cielo = Heaven's Rebuke (Spanish)

Alquilar de serpiente = Serpent's Rend (Spanish)

Espejo de disparo = Mirror of Shot (Spanish)

Adversus Sepulchrum = Reverse Gravity (Latin)

Sanguine furtur = Steal Blood (Latin)

Testa ferri = Shrapnel (Latin) (not completely sure about that)

Lancea fulgur = Lance of Lightning (Latin)

Bakudo no Yon: Hainawa : Way of Binding 4 = Rope of Light (Japanese)

Hado no Juuichi: Tsuzuri Raiden = Way of Destruction 11: Bound Lightning

Hado no Rokujusan: Souen Soukatsui = Way of Destruction 63 : Twin shot of Crashing Blue Flames (Japanese)

Vis aeris = Force of the Wind (Latin)

Terra carcer = Earth Prison (Latin)

Signum Draconis = Dragon Statue (Latin)

Ingens aggere terrae = Giant Earth Rampart (Latin)

Ferro glaciem = Glacier dome (Latin)

first off i can;t take credit for a couple of these, i got a couple from tyro12's story 'Circumstances', while the Japanese ones are, as i mentioned previously, from Bleach, but i did make the last few myself, even if i cant remember which site i used to translate them :P this is probably my last chapter for a little while, since i'm back at class soon, but i will hopefully do another chapter between now and when i finish, but no promises. thanks all and remember, review :D


	9. Horcrux Hunt: The Ancient House of Gaunt

Hello to you all! My greatest apologies for such an extended delay in the chapters. I've been working 6 days a week all summer without actually having had a proper summer break, so any free time i had was devoted to catching up on my sleep. Once again, apologies. I'm hoping to get more chapters rolling soon, though i won't make any promises.

and, without further delay, i present to you, your new chapter! Please enjoy my readers.

Moonlight Ace is brought to you by the follwing sponsors... oh, wait, we don't have any sponsors. well, in that case, on with the show!

* * *

Harry, Fleur, Cedric and Krum stood outside the abandoned shack, its creaky gate swinging slowly in the wind and making eerie noises, filling their minds with dread and doubt. The Gaunt shack was scarcely fifty meters from where they stood, yet they felt hesitant to proceed any further.

"Are you sure this is the place where the Horcrux is hidden Harry?" asked Cedric, for the umpteenth time.

"For the last time, yes its here Cedric," sighed Harry in exasperation.

"What is ze matter Cedric? Afraid of ze dark?" teased Fleur, once again standing next to Harry.

"There's a reason I'm not in the house of bravery you know," said Cedric, glancing apprehensively at the old hut.

"Look, it's just a quick grab the ring and go job, alright. Dumbledore didn't say anything about any monsters or spirits," explained Harry to his friend, amused by his phobia of ghosts.

"Let's just go in and get the ring, so ve can leave. The sooner the better," said Krum, startling the others with his serious tone. When it came to Viktor Krum, he was either serious when somebody disturbed him, serious when he felt no feelings whatsoever for the person he was speaking to, or serious when the situation at hand gave him a bad feeling. Something foul was afoot.

"What do you sense?" asked Harry in a low voice, his tone becoming equally serious.

"What Cedric is most likely feeling is a high-level of Intimidation Curse, which has been set over the building and the surrounding area, along with Despair Curses, all in order to ward people avay from the area. Something foul is afoot indeed." Explained Krum, his voice dropping to a whisper while everybody crouched down close to the ground.

"I think I get it. Voldemort was still here at this time before the Tournament ended, in order to hide. So, since Dumbledore didn't come here until my sixth year, there might have been extra defences still in place," muttered Harry, his eyes widening in shock. They had counted on Voldemort still being in the shack, which is why Harry had used his link with Voldemort to look into his mind to find out when he might be gone. Though Voldemort may be gone for now, his defences would still be in place, defences that Dumbledore hadn't encountered before.

"Everybody, tread carefully. This time, I'm not certain of what might show up," whispered Harry, getting nods from his three companions. Slowly, the four champions edged up to the front door of the Gaunt hovel, their wands at the ready. Pushing open the rusty door, Harry prepared for the worst, but was not expecting to be confronted by the sight of nothing. No beast was waiting to pounce, no barrier, no Deatheater. It was as though they had stepped into the wrong abandoned hiding place of Voldemort. Suspiciously, the group continued forward, their footsteps echoing throughout the shack, dust falling from the rotted ceiling as they walked into the house. Getting onto his hands and knees, Harry started searching through the piles of rubble with Krum, while Fleur and Cedric started searching upstairs. During his search, Harry accidentally brushed his hand over Krum's, making the older boy smirk.

"Ohhh, Arry, don't ever let go off my and," cooed Krum in a high pitched girl voice, causing Harry to glare daggers at him.

"One more word Krum. One more word," breathed Harry dangerously, giving Krum the chills. They continued searching for the ring for a few minutes, before Krum found it, concealed beneath a largish pile of stone pieces. Carefully, Harry picked it up with a conjured pair of tongs and placed it into a magically reinforced glass jar, before making a motion to call for the others. However, just in time, Harry noticed something from the corner of his eyes. With Seeker reflexes, Harry and Krum, who had also seen, dove from the rubble pile and rolled themselves onto their feet, just before a ghastly looking creature smashed down where they were mere moments ago.

"FLEUR CEDRIC!" yelled Harry in warning, jumping away once more, as the creature lunged at them again.

* * *

Fleur put up a powerful shield against the beast, her eyes widening as its claws left great cracks in her shield after a single swipe. She glanced behind her, where Cedric was sporting a nasty graze where the creature had slashed at his arm. Aiming at the creature's face, she cast a conjuring spell, sending a Slicing Curse at its face. She couldn't believe her eyes when the creature opened its mouth wider and swallowed her spell. The beast lunged at her again, this time succeeding in shattering her shield and sending her flying backwards, thankfully being caught by Cedric.

"_Hado no Ichi: Sho!"_ shouted Cedric, a pulse of magic firing from his hand and pushing the creature back, while Fleur banished a knife at it, which thudded into the creature's throat. Their cries of triumph turned to gasps, as the knife slowly sank into the beast's flesh, leaving no visible wound on it. Cedric pulled himself off the ground and put his wand in a cross formation.

"_Bakudo no_ _Nanajuusan: Tozansho!"_ shouted Cedric, causing a powerful blue light to encompass Fleur and himself. The creatures were thrown backwards from the light, as a deep blue, inverted pyramid structure formed around them, creating a barrier to protect the two.

"Good job Cedric!" called Fleur impressed. Getting no reply, Fleur turned around to see Cedric panting on the ground.

"Cedric! What is ze matter?" she asked worriedly, pulling him up to a sitting position.

"I'm not very good at Kido yet, so such a high-level spell took a lot out of me," explained Cedric tiredly, looking behind Fleur to the outside of the pyramid. The creature was repeatedly attacking the barrier, but was unable to even scratch the shield. Fleur traced her fingers through the dust on the ground, streaking symbols across her arms, using the dust as a marker.

"_Black and white net. Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns and belts. Footprints, distant thunder, sharp peak, engulfing land, hidden in the night, sea of clouds, blue line. Form a circle and fly though the heavens. Bakudo no Nanajuunana: Tenteikura!"_ shouted Fleur, a blue square of light materializing in front of her.

"Arry, Viktor! Can you both ear me?" said Fleur clearly into the light.

"Loud and clear Fleur, are you and Cedric ok? We're being attacked by some sort of beast down here, and whatever it is; it seems to be immune to magic. We're running from it at the moment, but the doors are all locked, so there's no way out. Any ideas?" replied Harry, his voice echoing within the barrier.

"Arry, Cedric and I are also trapped, but I zink ze beasts are vulnerable to Kido, maybe try attacking it wiz zat," suggested Fleur, struggling to maintain the connection.

"Thanks Fleur, we'll help you both out as soon as we deal with this one," said Harry, just before the connection broke. Fleur looked out to the outside of the barrier, seeing that the creature had made several marks in the shield, but was still awhile off getting in.

"It looks like eet is up to you Arry," said Fleur quietly, waving her wand over Cedric, watching as her healing magic was repelled. All in all, a grim situation.

* * *

"_Bakudo no Gojuuichi: Yasei no Bousou!" _shouted Viktor, sending a wave of vines toward the creature. The creature did well to dodge them, but the vines still caught it and wrapped around its body. The creature struggled in them, seemingly surprised that it couldn't absorb the vines.

"_Hado no Sanjuuyon: Gaki Rekko!"_ shouted Harry, sending bolts of green energy out of a circle of energy, aimed straight at the creature's bound form. The attack was true, and struck the beast's body, causing it to let out a bone-chilling screech, as its body turned to dust. Racing up the stairs, Harry found Fleur and Cedric inside a barrier, which was beginning to crack from the beasts' assault on it. The creature turned its snout towards Harry, growling at the new enemy. Suddenly, a ripple appeared on its body, growing and mutating its body before suddenly, shocking the three teens, split into two, becoming two separate creatures. The newly formed twin monstrosities lunged at Harry, who put up a quick Kido shield, before counterattacking.

"_Hado no Sanjuuichi: Shakkaho!"_ cried Harry, sending a blast of crimson flames at the beasts, who took the hit directly. Harry looked on in shock, as the creatures began to glow red, before they almost doubled in size.

"I've figured it out, they're Hellhounds! Dogs of hell that can absorb any sort of human magic and have the ability to split themselves and grow stronger with the power of fire magic," breathed Harry, the gears in his head turning, as he finally realised what it was that he was fighting. The two enlarged hellhounds charged at Harry, their jaws open wide to devour him.

"_Walls of iron sand, a priestly pagoda, glowing ironclad fireflies. Standing upright, silent to the end. Bakudo no Nanajuugo: Gochutekkan!" _yelled Harry, shooting five yellow orbs into the air. The orbs then materialized five iron pillars, chained together, before descending onto the two hounds. Despite their best efforts, the hounds were incapable of moving the pillars from their prone forms.

"_Hado no Rokujuusan: Raikaho!" _he finished, throwing a huge blast of electricity at the hounds, turning them to dust almost instantly. Exhausted, Harry fell to his knees, just as Fleur reached him, catching him.

"Arry, you did eet, you won Arry!" she squealed, clutching him to her chest.

"Are you and Cedric alright Fleur?" he asked softly, suddenly feeling the adrenaline leave him, replaced with tiredness.

"Oui, we are both alright. Cedric is injured, but eet is not too bad a wound, e will recover," she replied, smiling at him as she stroked his hair. Harry smiled and struggled to his feet, using Fleur to keep his balance.

* * *

The weary champions were able to return to Hogwarts via Apparition, and quietly bade each other farewell, though Fleur insisted on accompanying him to Dumbledore's office, to make sure the Horcrux was destroyed as soon as possible. Harry, managing to guess the password for the gargoyle, climbed the stairs to the office, before knocking three times and waiting, his arm around Fleur's waist to keep himself upright. Not that she minded.

"Enter." Harry staggered into the room, still somewhat supported by the silvery blonde woman.

"Ah, Harry. How good to see you again. And Miss Delacour, what brings the both of you to my office this fine evening?" greeted Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling merrily at them.

"We found the Horcrux Professor, in the Gaunt shack, just as you found it last time," said Harry, placing the magically reinforced glass jar with the ring on the desk.

"Very good Harry but you seem a little worse for wear, was there any trouble?" he asked, looking concerned for Harry's weariness.

"Yes sir. It seemed that, since Voldemort was still hiding out there, the defenses were much stronger, and we ended up dealing with a pair of Hellhounds," reported Harry, noticing Dumbledore's look when he mentioned the hounds.

"Hellhounds?" said Dumbledore sharply. At Harry's nod, he continued. "Why did you fight Hellhounds? Why not call me, I would have been there in an instant to aid you all," said Dumbledore.

"We couldn't get out sir, the room was magically locked, and we couldn't contact anybody very well. We managed to defeat them both thankfully, since I taught some Kido to the others as well," explained Harry, sinking into an armchair. Dumbledore's eyes began to twinkle once more.

"Ah, so you've learned the forgotten art of Kido then Harry?" the headmaster asked, though he had little doubt that he was right.

"Yes sir. And you sir? Were you able to accomplish your task sir?" asked Harry, a concerned expression passing over his weary face.

"Rest assured Harry, it has been done. Professor Moody has been rescued and replaced with the substitute," Dumbledore reassured him. Harry let out a sigh of relief and sunk back into the armchair. Since rescuing Moody without Crouch Junior going into a panic was all but impossible, Harry and Dumbledore devised a plan. By using several overlapping spells and mixing in Moody's actual hair into the brew, they were able to construct a replica of Moody, complete with a heartbeat, though it would scarcely do more than that. This way, the real Moody could recover in a safe house, while Crouch suspected nothing of it.

"Thank you professor, it's good to know that it's been taken care of. I think we should move on with this and destroy this Horcrux now though," said Harry, turning his eyes to the Horcrux, his nose wrinkling in distaste. "Although I don't think Voldemort can feel the pieces of his soul anymore, if we destroyed all of them at once, he may feel something, so I think we should destroy them as we obtain them," finished Harry, drawing the Sword of Gryffindor from the sheath on the mantle. Fleur wrapped her arms around him, as he swung the sword above his head. With one swift movement, the sword came down on the desk, cracking the ring, which let out an unearthly wail, while dark smoke rose out of the cracked ring, vanishing into thin air. As the Horcrux died, Harry allowed himself to fall back into Fleur's waiting arms, his tiredness consuming him.

"Well done Harry, you've done very well. Get some rest and I'll talk to you tomorrow," said Dumbledore, smiling serenely at the two students, who took their leave at once, though Fleur was half carrying a weakly protesting Harry.

* * *

"I can walk Fleur, really," pleaded Harry, though Fleur did not allow it.

"Non, zis I will not allow, I shall take you to rest in your dormitory before you dine tonight, zen I shall see you downstairs at dinner," she replied, still half carrying the younger boy. Fleur took him right to the portrait hole for the tower, where thankfully, nobody was around. Fleur smiled at him, kissing him on the cheeks before she turned to depart. Harry's hand on her wrist however, stopped her before she left.

"Fleur, will you do me the honor of accompanying me to the Yule Ball?" asked Harry seriously, his emerald green eyes piercing straight into her ocean blue ones. Fleur looked at a loss for a moment, before she smiled and wrapped her arms around him once more.

"Eet shall be your honor indeed, Arry," she replied cheekily, kissing him tenderly on the cheek. "Meet me in ze entrance all at 7:30 sharp," she told him, before walking off, leaving Harry outside the common room. Harry exhaled in relief, thanking whatever deity that she had agreed to going to the ball with him.

"I'm cool, I'm reserved, I won't let this go to my head," Harry repeated a few times under his breath, before his eyes snapped open. "Oh who am I kidding – YESSSSSSS!" shouted Harry in blissful excitement, jumping high into the air and punching the air with his fist. Upon making contact back on the ground, the common room opened and Lee Jordan poked his head through.

"Hey Harry, was that you screaming outside?" he asked in confusion. Harry gave him an exasperated look.

"No, some idiot just ran past, whooping like a maniac, not sure what got into him," said Harry, before pulling himself into the common room and traipsing up to his dormitory to get some rest. Lee simply looked on in confusion.

* * *

And there we are! The end of another chapter of The Triwizard Tournament: Take Two, and i'm hoping you all enjoyed it. i had quite the writers block with this chapter, though i'm hoping the next few won't be too much of a problem. Until next time my friends, and i always encourage feedback and constructiv criticism, as well as being complimented for any work you feel was well done, so don't hesitate to press the review button people :)

Translations:

_Hado no Ichi: Sho =_ Way of Destruction 1: Thrust

_Bakudo no Nanajuusan: Tozansho = _Way of Binding 73: Inverse Crystal Mountain

_Bakudo no Nanajuunana: Tenteikura = _Way of Binding 77: Heavenly Rickshaws of the Silken Air

_Bakudo no Gojuuichi: Yasei no Bousou_ = Way of Binding 51: Nature, Run Wild

_Hado no Sanjuuyon: Gaki Rekko_ = Way of Destruction 34: Raging Light Fang

_Hado no Sanjuuichi: Shakkaho_ = Way of Destruction 33: Shot of Red Fire

_Bakudo no Nanajuugo: Gochutekkan_ = Way of Binding 75: Quintet of Iron Pillars

_Hado no Rokujuusan: Raikaho_ = Way of Destruction 63: Thunder Cannon Flash


	10. Finding Dates and Talent Revealed

Hello all! my deepest apologies for such a long wait for the new chapter, my internet has been acting up and I ended up having no computer for almost a month. also the writers block, a fanfic writers worst enemy. Anyway, I am halfway through the next chapter now, but i find myself at somewhat of a difficult stage in the writing, which i must ask the opinions of the readers. should i:

A) Keep this as solely Harry/Fleur or:

B) Make it Harry/Fleur/Hermione?

My idea's have somewhat gone different ways and my mind keeps thinking of adding Hermione to the mix, as i think it would work the best, but i would like opinions from you, the readers.

and so, without further stalling, the newest chapter of Triwizard Tournament: Take Two... Finding Dates and Talent Revealed

This chapter is brought to you by the people who brought you such inventions as the Glass Hammer, the Inflatable Dartboard and the Nuclear Mousetrap. enjoy

* * *

"You need to teach me some of the magic you used in the First Task Harry," whispered Hermione excitedly, as she and Harry sat in the library, finishing up their Transfiguration essays.

"I'd be happy to Mione, but you know it's not that hard really, but it takes a hell of a lot of magical energy," Harry whispered back, keeping his voice quiet as Madam Pince, the hawk-eyed librarian walked past, her eyes narrowed at the youths, as though whispering was too loud.

"I know that, but Harry, you really shouldn't hold back so much in class," replied Hermione, gaining a surprised look from her friend. "Don't give me that look Harry; I've known that you were holding back in classes for years now. Why do you think I bother Ron much more about his performance than yours?" she inquired, making Harry smile. She truly was a genius, and one of the only people to have ever picked up on that fact.

"Hehe, found out. Sorry I hid it from you Mione, it was kind of a survival instinct from primary school," he explained, getting a confused look from her. "I used to mess up my grades when I was younger, because every time I got better than my cousin, my uncle would lock me in the cupboard under the stairs without dinner, and sometimes without breakfast the next day," he explained to her, the confusion turning to horror and a hint of anger.

"They locked you in a cupboard?" she almost shouted, gaining a very stern glare from the librarian. "How long has this been going on Harry?" she said in a much quieter voice, concern leaking into her words.

"Since I was four, which is when they made me start working in the garden, cooking breakfast, cooking dinner, vacuuming, mopping the floors and just about every other chore in the house," said Harry quietly, getting another shocked look from his friend. "The cupboard they used to lock me in was actually where I slept," he added. Hermione looked halfway between tears and erupting with anger.

"They made you sleep in cupboard and have been making you do all those chores since you were four?" she whispered incredulously, imagining what Harry must have gone through.

"Yeah, they weren't the nicest of people to grow up with," said Harry offhandedly. He was over it by now, since he had lived through it once already. Besides, with any luck, he would be able to live elsewhere by the end of the year. His thoughts were cut off by Hermione hugging him tightly, almost suffocating him in the process.

"Oh Harry! I'm so sorry you had to live with those horrible people!" Hermione whispered, almost in tears, while Harry started to turn blue from oxygen deprivation.

"Mione… oxygen… need… oxygen!" wheezed Harry, which in turn made Hermione turn red from embarrassment and promptly squeaked and let go of him.

"Sorry," she mumbled, hiding behind a book. Harry laughed and flicked her forehead his finger.

"Don't mumble, it's unbecoming of a lady," he teased, causing Hermione to roll her eyes at him, though she was smiling at him.

* * *

The pair left the library soon after, heading to Transfiguration. True to his word, Harry decided to let loose his real magical ability during classes from now on, successfully turning his guinea fowl into a guinea pig on the first try, astounding Professor McGonagall and earning Gryffindor 10 points. She had given him several inanimate objects to work on transfiguring them, while she assisted the rest of the class, while Hermione watched proudly as Harry transfigured each of them in turn, changing a teacup into a chair, a feather into a wind chime and a scrap of parchment into a small silver needle. The progress had left McGonagall shell-shocked, the class bewildered and Hermione mildly surprised, though her pride in her friend was far outweighing the surprise.

"Harry, that's amazing! I can't believe you were hiding this!" she whispered excitedly to a bashful Harry.

"Indeed Mr Potter, it is quite remarkable," agreed McGonagall, walking up to the desk and looking at the pile of transfigured objects with a small smile on her face. "I see you've been taking your studying more serious lately. 20 points to Gryffindor," she said, getting a grin from Harry in response. She lifted the wind chime to her eyes, noticing the fine markings on the edges, and that the Hogwarts crest was emblazoned there as well, while the chair had carved symbols across its surface and had the mark of Gryffindor etched onto the backrest. To be able to mark a transfigured item with such fine detail was considered proof of Transfiguration Mastery. She would surely have to keep an eye on such a promising talent.

"_It's almost like having James Potter in my class again_," thought McGonagall with a brief smile as she walked over to help Neville, who had somehow caused his guinea fowl to develop frog's legs.

"That's nothing Hermione, check this out," said Harry excitedly, like a child in a sweet shop. Pulling over a scrap of parchment, Harry began to draw a complex circle on it in ink. By now, most of the class was watching, while McGonagall was mentally writing a note in her head to Dumbledore, asking for certain books to be given to the young Potter heir, who seemed to have stopped hiding his talent. Harry finished the array, revealing a complex circle with a pentagram and three unusual symbols inside it. Harry laid the parchment on the ground and placed a spare ink bottle inside the array. Finally, Harry placed his hands on the parchment, causing the circle to begin to glow brightly. The students were shocked, as the glass also glowed brightly and began to twist, changing shape as it did. When the light died down, the glass ink bottle had become a delicate glass otter. The class was in awe at the magic display, while McGonagall's eyebrows had shot into her hairline.

"Wow Harry! You learned Alchemy?" said Hermione in awe, gazing at the otter in amazement.

"Yeah, still working on it, but I can do some basic transmutation," he replied, picking up the glass otter carefully, and handing it to Hermione. "But I can't do roses very well, so you'll have to make do with that," he finished cheekily, causing Hermione to smile and blush prettily. Harry noticed that Ron was looking somewhat irritated at this and sighed. He had known for a while that Ron had jealousy issues, but had hoped they could resolve them. After the war, he and Hermione had gotten married and had settled down to raise a family, though Hermione was less than happy with her husband, who quite the same was as he always had been and was less than adequate in many aspects of life. Ron had always been in the belief that Muggles and, by extension, Muggleborn's way of life was inferior to wizards, and therefore believed that doing things the magical way was always the best way. Draco Malfoy had always been a bigot, but what Harry and Hermione hadn't realised was that Ron was just as much one, though he wasn't offensive, but was under the impression that Muggles were meant to be educated by wizards. What Ron had never thought of was that Muggles outnumbered the magical world more than 100 to 1. Also, while magic made lives easier, Magical Britain was set back at least 50 years from the modern day. Muggles were in fact smarted than their wizard counterparts, as they did without magic and got along fine. Wizards believed that if a painting didn't move or speak then it had no use in life, and similarly believed that they were superior to Muggles in every way. What Wizards refused to believe was that they could not win if ever the modern world found out about them. After all, a gun can be shot multiple times in a second, while the killing curse cannot, and a speeding bullet has not yet been transfigured. With Ron's frame of mind however, he and Hermione seldom went a day without arguing how they would raise a child. While Hermione wanted her child to go through primary school, Ron believed that it was unnecessary and a waste of time. This caused his sleeping on the couch; after Hermione pointed out that she went to a Muggle school.

* * *

After class, McGonagall announced the Yule Ball, just as Harry remembered, before proceeding to ask him to stay back after class.

"Potter, the champions and their partners traditionally open the Yule Ball. You're going to need to find a partner by Christmas," she said. Harry grinned.

"All taken care of Professor, actually I heard Professor Karkaroff talking about it, so I already have a date," replied Harry, still grinning at the stunned look on the Transfiguration teacher's face.

"Oh… well, in that case I guess you need to learn how to dance Mr Potter, so as not to disappoint your partner," she said, getting over her shock. "Also, well done on your performance in class today, but it seems quite odd that your performance and theory work would suddenly shoot up so suddenly," she said, giving him a suspicious look. "Not that your marks were bad before, by any reckoning, but the spell work you did today carried the craft of a master. Care to explain why you've been holding back in my classes before now?" she finished, knowing she was right from the look of shock in his eyes. Harry sighed, knowing his jig was up. Although he hadn't learned the alchemy until he was 20, he had been holding back in class ever since had first started at Hogwarts.

"I'm sorry if I disappointed you Professor, I've been used to having to hide my grades since before Hogwarts, since my aunt and uncle… they didn't like me getting better marks than my cousin," finished Harry somewhat lamely, though McGonagall saw what he meant. Her expression softened, though inside her mind, she was raging about the Dursleys. She had always protested Harry being sent to live with them, ever since she had spied their son kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. At the age of 1 no less!

"Harry, I want you to know that you can always come to me if you have any problems," she replied in an unusually informal way. "I am your head of house after all," she said, smiling at him, which he returned. "Now, since I can clearly see that your Transfiguration is higher than fourth year, and I suspect that it goes above fifth year as well, I'd like to give you a test in the next class, to determine at what level you are at," she explained to him, gaining a confused look, though he understood what it meant from his previous life. "You wouldn't be allowed to try for a Mastery of Transfiguration until you can display above seventh year knowledge of Transfiguration, so this test will show me where you are at, in terms of your Transfiguration skill. You'll be placed at any of the Hogwarts years, or one of the three levels above, Understanding, Advanced or Mastery. To attain one of the latter three ranks, you will have to sit the Ministry's test, which you may choose to take if you can prove you have post seventh year knowledge of Transfiguration. Is that all clear?" she explained, looking to Harry, who nodded.

"Yup, loud and clear Professor," said Harry, as he grabbed his bag.

"Alright then, thank you for your time Mr Potter. Now off with you," she said, shooing him out of the class, though she felt in high spirits.

"If you could see your son now James, he might even get better than you in Transfiguration," she said to herself, smiling as she summoned all the essays to her desk and packed everything away with a flick of her wand.

Harry wandered down the hallway, vaguely aware of Ron and Hermione arguing about something. He could tell that it was Ron's chronic 'foot in mouth' illness; the guy just didn't get the old adage 'when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging'. The scoreboard he had conjured was out of space now, as Hermione had scored over 30 against Ron's 2, so he Vanished the board and was looking for something to amuse himself or possibly escape the conversation, when he noticed Malfoy and some Slytherin's pestering a third year girl. Figuring he could help her out and make a fool out of Malfoy at the same time, Harry quietly detached himself from the arguing pair, and made his way up behind Malfoy, who had snatched the girl's wand out of her hand and mocking her as she started to cry.

"What's wrong Mudblood? Have you learned to respect your betters yet?" taunted Malfoy, as his fellow Slytherin's guffawed stupidly.

"Really Malfoy, do you know any other insults than that? My god, you're actually an embarrassment to stupid people," said Harry lightly, plucking the girl's wand from behind Malfoy, causing the boy to spin around.

"Potter!" spat Malfoy, his sneer increasing tenfold. "I wonder how many girls will reject you for the ball before you give up and ask your Mudblood friend," he sneered.

"Considering you thought I was going to fail within 10 minutes of the First Task and I completed it within that time frame, I think I'll do perfectly fine, ferret face," said Harry cheerfully, angering the Malfoy heir. "But which one of your butt buddies are you taking to the ball Malfoy?" asked Harry, grinning at Malfoy's confusion.

"Butt buddy?" asked Malfoy suspiciously, while the girl he had been pestering giggled quietly. She must have at least one Muggle parent to have known what Harry meant.

"Yeah, I mean everybody knows that you, Crabbe and Goyle have a 'special' relationship, so we figured two of you would be going together," said Harry innocently. Getting the implications, Malfoy began to turn red in anger. "Soooo, Malfoy… do you give or take?" asked Harry mischievously, not being able to resist getting one more in.

"I AM NOT GAY POTTER! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" screamed Malfoy, now completely red with anger, as passing students erupted into laughter at the scene, while Harry gave a theatrical bow. Malfoy attempted to pull out his wand while Harry's back was turned, but Harry was prepared and shot a bright yellow spell at him, causing Malfoy to tumble backwards onto the ground, taking aforementioned 'butt buddies' along with him. Malfoy pulled himself up off the ground, glaring at Harry.

"WHEN MY FATHER HEARS ABOUT THIS –"Malfoy started, but stopped when he noticed Harry's wand pointed right between his eyes.

"Of course, the classics again Malfoy. Can't stick up for yourself, so you run and hide behind daddy and call people the same thing over and over, that's so like you Malfoy," whispered Harry, his voice completely serious this time. It was actually scaring the Malfoy scion, though everybody else couldn't hear what they were saying. "My father is dead, but I don't need him to put you six feet under, and yours won't stop me either, so I'd think carefully about how you go about your education these next few years, because if you keep testing me, one day you'll find yourself lost in the Forbidden Forest very close to the Acromantula colony. I hear they love the taste of ferrets," Harry whispered dangerously, causing Malfoy to gulp.

"What's going on here?" asked a silky voice. Harry turned and saw Snape sweeping towards them. Most of the students left in a bit of a hurry, leaving just Malfoy, Harry and the third year.

"P-p-professor Snape sir, Malfoy was calling me n-n-names and stole my w-w-wand, and Harry was just h-h-helping me," stuttered the third year girl, her voice shaky because she had been crying. Snape looked at the girl briefly, and at Malfoy, but kept his gaze on Harry the longest. Harry couldn't tell what the man was thinking, but he had been different since Harry had shouted at him in his mind. Finally Snape spoke.

"Very well, it seems that the evidence is against you Mr Malfoy. 10 points from Slytherin and a detention with Mr Filch," said Snape in a monotone, turning to Harry as Malfoy stared open mouthed at his head of house. "10 points to Gryffindor for helping another student Mr Potter, and I would like to speak to you at some point, perhaps before the commencement of the Second Task," said Snape finally, sweeping away, Malfoy with him, leaving a shell-shocked Harry. Despite the impossible happening to him on a weekly basis, even Harry could not believe that Snape had awarded points to a Gryffindor, much less him of all people! Then he remembered the third year girl.

"Sorry about Malfoy, he can be a prat, I know," said Harry kindly, smiling at the girl as he handed her back her wand. The girl blushed cutely, thanking Harry profusely. Taking the time to study her, he realised that this same girl had asked him to the ball in the original timeline, but he had declined, and not in a very polite way, due to shock. She was a Hufflepuff, very cute with long, curly dark brown hair, standing at about '5, 3' and wearing her uniform. Harry was also relieved to see that she wasn't wearing a 'Support Cedric Diggory' badge.

"Thank you for helping me out with Snape as well, I thought I was gonna end up in detention again," said Harry gratefully, making the girl smile.

"I should be thanking you Harry. They cornered me and were making fun of me, because I'm a Half-Blood, and I couldn't do anything because they had my wand," she started, sniffling a little at the end. Harry conjured a handkerchief for the girl, in Hufflepuff colours of course, waiting for her to finish.

"I'm sorry about that, I'm Madison Conbolt," she said, smiling at Harry, still blushing a bit.

"I'm Harry Potter, nice to meet you Madison," said Harry, smiling back at the girl.

"Umm, I know that you don't really know me, but would you go to the Yule Ball with me?" she asked quickly, her sentence coming out a bit jumbled, as her face heated up. Harry gave her a sad smile.

"I'm sorry Madison, but I'm already going with somebody," said Harry, feeling awful as he saw her tearing up again.

"That's okay, I figured you would already be going with someone," she said quietly, about to turn away, before Harry put his hand on her shoulder and turned her back to face him.

"I can't take you, but my friend might be able to. He still needs a date, and I'm sure he'd like to go with somebody as cute as you," said Harry, grinning as she blushed from being called cute by Harry.

"Would that be alright?" she asked in a small voice, though Harry could hear the hope in it.

"Of course it will be, I can take you to see him now if you like?" asked Harry. Getting a nod from Madison, Harry took her hand and led her up the marble staircase towards the Gryffindor Common Room. On the way, he spied Neville heading towards the library, so he changed courses and took off towards the library as well. He saw Neville approaching the entry, so he asked Madison to wait outside for a second, oblivious to her elation at having Harry hold her hand.

"Hey, Nev!" shouted Harry, catching Neville just before he entered the library.

"Hey Harry, how are you? I was just about to make a start on this Transfiguration work, you know how hopeless I am at it," said Neville, ever enthusiastic as always.

"Don't worry about it Neville, besides, you're ace at Herbology, and don't think I haven't noticed how good you've been getting at DADA," said Harry encouragingly, causing Neville to flush with embarrassed pleasure.

"That's only because you've been helping me with the work, even though you've been preparing for the tournament," replied Neville, though pleased with the encouragement.

"Friends help each other out mate. Speaking of which, you need a partner for the ball right?" asked Harry, to which Neville nodded glumly. "Well, it just so happens I know a very cute young lady who you might be able to ask," said Harry slyly.

"Really Harry? That would be great. Can you introduce me please? I'd really rather ask myself than ask you to do it," said Neville, grateful for Harry's help.

"Of course I can, in fact, she's right over there," said Harry, finding Neville's expression to be quite hysterical. "Hey Madison, would you come over here and say hello?" said Harry loudly, beckoning to the girl, who made her way over timidly.

"Neville Longbottom, meet Miss Madison Conbolt, Hufflepuff, third year, and in need for a date to the ball, though I'm wondering why boys aren't queuing up to ask her," introduced Harry, making Madison blush in embarrassment and pleasure. "Madison Conbolt, meet Neville Longbottom, best in our year at Herbology, a nicer bloke you couldn't find, and he also makes a top notch Pavlova," said Harry, causing Neville to give him a strange, but amused look and Madison to giggle at him.

"It's nice to meet you Madison," said Neville timidly, bowing to her slightly. Madison smiled, losing some of her nervousness, as the nervous teen smiled weakly back at her.

"Umm, w-w-would you go to the Y-y-Yule ball with me?" asked Neville, stuttering a little bit. Madison smiled and blushed prettily.

"Yes Neville, I will," she said, smiling at him as he smiled back, feeling very relieved.

"Great! Glad that worked out, because if it didn't, I would have looked a tad stupid, wouldn't I?" exclaimed Harry, grinning at the two embarrassed teens. "I'm meeting my date at the Entrance Hall on the night at 7:30, so if you want I can bring Neville down with me and we'll meet you there," said Harry, getting nods all round.

"Thanks for everything Harry, and thanks again for helping me with Malfoy," said Madison, turning red as she hugged him and he hugged her back.

"Not a problem, but I'll be expecting to steal you from Neville at some point during the night for a dance," said Harry, causing the girl to almost swoon. Madison left soon after, and Harry went with Neville into the library to help him with Transfiguration.

* * *

"Harry, thanks again for helping me with the homework and for asking Madison to the ball," said Neville as they left the library, heading for dinner.

"Not a problem Neville, I'm glad you got such a cute girl for your date and that you got in early," said Harry honestly. "Although, I think you should send a letter home to your grandmother and ask to get a new wand. Because you're using your father's wand and not one that's attuned to your magic, it might be a major reason to why your spells don't work as well as they should. Your wand work is flawless, but its not attuned to you," said Harry, causing Neville to become depressed.

"I don't think Gran will let me, she wants me to grow up like my parents, and using dad's wand is one way she thinks," said Neville gloomily. Recently, through studying together, Neville helping Harry with Herbology and Harry helping Neville with DADA, Neville had told Harry about his parents, which had surprised Harry, as he hadn't confided in him last time.

"Trust me, I think she'll see. And I'll write to her too, maybe she'll listen if we both write.

"Thanks Harry, you're a good friend," said Neville, smiling at Harry.

"What are friends for?" said Harry rhetorically, clapping Neville on the shoulder as they sat down to dinner.

"Hey Harry," said Alicia Spinnet, sitting across from him.

"Hey Alicia, what's up?" replied Harry.

"We're holding dance classes for Gryffindor's for the ball, would you be interested?" she asked, carefully balancing a slice of steak and kidney pie on her fork as she carried it towards her plate.

"Yeah, sounds good to me. Might bring Neville too, and Ron if he finds himself a date," said Harry, spooning potato's onto his plate. He had noticed that Ron and Hermione were still arguing, and Hermione had just stood up and was making her way to their part of the table, looking irritated.

"Great, the girls will love it, getting to dance with you," replied Alicia, grinning at her teammate's expense.

"I feel used," said Harry in a small, sad voice, before poking his tongue out at Alicia, who laughed.

"Oh by the way, keep an eye on Malfoy, he tried to curse me before, but I got him first and set a time delay spell on him, should activate in 3 minutes exactly," said Harry quietly, getting incredulous looks from Alicia and Neville.

"Oh no, Fred and George have tainted my innocent little brother's soul," said Alicia in mock horror.

"Wait, what did you say Alicia?" asked Harry, catching the 'little brother' comment. Alicia went red with embarrassment, but was saved from answering when the twins sat down on either side of Alicia.

"You say our names, we shall appear," announced Fred, grinning across at them.

"Did somebody say Hermione's name, cause she's coming this way too, and she looks like she's going to murder somebody," added George, as Hermione sat down next to Harry.

"Ugh, one of these days I'm going to murder your brother," groaned Hermione, as she grabbed some food.

"That bad?" asked Harry sympathetically, patting her on the back.

"Oh, don't even get me started on how my idea's on House Elves is stupid, or how I should get a life like him! He plays chess and supports the Chudley Cannons almost religiously, if that's life I'd rather not have one!" she said angrily, making Fred and George snort.

"Yes, well our dear brother doesn't seem to realise," started Fred.

"That the Cannons aren't so much a team, more a joke gone wrong," finished George.

"Tell you what Hermione, look over at Malfoy, he's just leaving the Hall, and my spell will activate in ten seconds," said Harry, grinning at her.

"Oh Harrikins, what mischief have you been up to?" asked George, grinning as well.

"Well, you see its-"Harry was interrupted by a shrill cry of shock and surprise. Harry, Hermione, Neville, Alicia and the twins, along with most everybody in the Hall looked over at the Slytherin table. It only took one look for them to start laughing, with most of the school following suit. The twins had fallen off their seats laughing hard, Alicia was lying on the table laughing hysterically, Neville was clutching Harry's shoulder for support as he cackled, and even Hermione was giggling like mad, as Harry observed his handiwork with a wicked grin. For Draco Malfoy was sliding around the Great Hall, between the houses tables, wheels attached to his shoes as he flailed wildly, falling flat on his face.

"H-h-h-harry, how did y-y-you do that?" asked Hermione between giggles, as the house tables fell into hysterics.

"Hit him with a time delayed jinx that was set to start when he stood up after dinner, and best of all, it activates at random times and lasts for four days," explained Harry, as those around him burst into a fresh round of laughter. Fred and George managed to crawl across the ground to Harry and began hailing him.

"HE IS THE MESSIAH!" they chanted, thoroughly entertaining the crowd and watching Muggleborns, who knew where the quote came from. Fred and George loved pranking and comedy of all kinds, and refused to limit it simply to the magical kind, and knew all about Monty Python. The laughing group started making their way out of the Hall, amidst gales of laughter at the Malfoy heir.

"HE'S NOT THE MESSIAH! HE'S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, unable to help himself as he walked past them to survey Malfoy's problem. This of course set them off again, and they could barely crawl through the doors, along with a number of other students, who were all clutching their sides.

"POTTER!" screamed Malfoy, just before he fell again, this time his face landing in a bowl of mashed potato. The big group of students fell out of the doors, clutching their sides laughing, helping each other up as they headed back to their dormitories. Harry caught Fleur's eye, as she picked herself off the floor, still cracking up laughing. She grinned back at him as she left towards the Beauxbatons coach. As Harry and a bunch of Gryffindors made their way up to the common room, with various members of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw patting him on the back and applauding him, Harry couldn't help but wonder one thing.

"_Professor Flitwick has seen Monty Python?"_

* * *

And on that note, another chapter finished! hope you all enjoyed it, and again my deepest apologies for such a long wait. i am working my best on a new chapter, but i would like any thoughts on my idea to add Hermione into the pairing. i only suggest this because i like Hermione as a character and i think she would work well in the pairing. also, i don't want her to end up with Ron, if theres two things i never forgave J.K for, its those two ending up together, and her killing off Sirius.

Please review or they'll break my legs... or my self-esteem will be crushed, whichever comes first really :P


	11. A Time for Family and Friends

Hello all! The new chapter is finally here after what seems like a million years! Sorry to everybody for the wait, it's been an incredibly exhausting time for me. Recently I did a contiki tour around central Europe for 25 nights, partying pretty much every night, drinking and in the appropriate cities, gambling and doing acceptable drugs. Not to sound irresponsible of course, it was just to try it since i've never done two of those things. Wild time anyway, saw lots of countries and sights. And for the last month I've been travelling all over the UK, so if anybody lives up in Kent or in London, let me know, we'll have an FF writer's get together :)

Anyway, my apologies for the lengthy wait, so here it is, your new chapter!

This chapter is brought to you by the following sponsors... oh wait, we don't have any sponsors... I KNEW i was forgetting something!

* * *

Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville were walking towards Hogsmeade two weeks before Christmas, quite ready to look around and enjoy the holiday festivities. Harry was also hoping to get his Christmas shopping finished, as he still had a few things left on his list to get. First stop as always, Honeydukes, which was crowded with students as always. Ron seemed to be spending a good amount of his funds on sweets already, while Neville and Hermione were picking out a few things too. Harry was making a good selection of some sweets for himself, as well as a few things for his friends for Christmas. He knew that he would be getting a few more things for people this year. He had even run into Luna a few days ago and had begun a new friendship with the strange, yet sweet third year. Harry walked over to the counter, where the owner greeted him with a smile.

"Hello there Mr Potter, how can I help you today," he asked, making Harry smile. The portly man was cheery and polite, and he seemed to exude an aura of warmth.

"I was wondering how much it would be for these sweets and what my friends are getting," Harry said, pointing out Ron, Neville and Hermione and handing the bag of sweets to the man.

"Well, judging from the amount you and those two have," he said, inclining his head towards Neville and Hermione "I'd say that's about 9 Galleons, plus the amount that your other friend is carrying, all up it would probably be about 15 Galleons Mr Potter." Harry pulled out his money pouch and extracted a handful of Galleons.

"Here's 20 Galleons sir, keep the change," he said, smiling at him, causing the man's eyes to widen.

"Mr Potter, that's very kind of you, but I can't accept such a generous tip," he said, not wanting to rip off a student and the Boy Who Lived no less!

"If they get any more then that should cover it, but whatever is left over is yours sir," Harry said, with an air of finality. "Honeydukes is an important part of this community, and I'd like to do my part in supporting it," he said, smiling at the man, who smiled back and handed him his bag of sweets.

"You're too nice a kid for your own good," said the man, smiling at Harry, before handing him a package. "Our newest Honeydukes chocolate, not on the shelves yet. And no use trying to refuse, it's the least I can do son," said the man, standing back as Harry attempted to argue.

"Anybody ever tell you you're too nice for your own good sir?" asked Harry cheekily, making the owner laugh. The four Gryffindor's left Honeydukes shortly after, with Hermione hugging Harry in appreciation.

"Oh, thank you so much Harry, that was so thoughtful of you," squealed Hermione, hugging him tightly.

"Yeah, thanks heap Harry," said Neville, smiling gratefully at his friend.

"Fanks Hawwy," said Ron through a mouthful of chocolate, which was also smeared around his lips. Hermione gave him a disgusted look, while Neville and Harry just looked away.

"So, Three Broomsticks then?" asked Ron, having managed to swallow the enormous amount of chocolate he had stuffed in his mouth.

"Err, sorry Ron, I have some Christmas shopping to do and I asked Hermione to give me a hand," said Harry.

"Me too Ron," said Neville, though after seeing the last display, Neville wasn't too sure if he really was all that sorry.

"Fine, ditch me, I'm going to go have a Butterbeer," said Ron angrily, stalking away.

"Is it just me, or is he getting steadily worse?" asked Neville. Harry sighed. He knew that the friendship would never last, but it seemed it was breaking down even faster this time. Ron had always been over jealous of lots of aspects of Harry's life, but when Harry had taken Hermione's side in their arguments after they were married, Ron had blown up, screaming at Harry to never talk to him again. Even afterwards when the Order of the Snake rose and Harry and Hermione went to fight them, Ron refused to, believing that he shouldn't have to, since he helped save the world last time. Harry knew that it boiled down to Jealousy with Ron, and right now, it was starting to boil over.

Harry, Hermione and Neville were searching through a magical clothes shop for things for Christmas, when they started talking about the Yule Ball.

"So Hermione, are you going to tell us who you're going with?" asked Harry, certain that Krum had asked her by now.

"Actually, I'm not going with anybody yet," said Hermione, surprising Harry. "What about you two? Have you got dates yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, Harry helped me ask out somebody, a third year named Madison," said Neville, smiling as he picked out a few articles of clothing he needed. Hermione raised her eyebrow at Harry.

"Really? You're setting people up now Harry?" she asked, her lips twitching in amusement.

"I like to think I'm a good matchmaker," announced Harry, making Hermione and Neville laugh. "And I have a date too, though I think I'll keep that a secret for the night, though I'm hoping you'll save a dance for me as well," said Harry, smiling at her as he sorted through some socks.

"Of course Harry, but why are you looking through socks?" asked Hermione, looking slightly confused.

"I'm getting a present for Dobby," said Harry, causing Hermione to smile at him. The trio took a bit longer in the shop, before looking around to the east of town. Truthfully, Harry had never been to this part of town, so he had no idea there were so many other types of shops here. Stopping off in a magical plants shop, Harry made sure Neville was distracted, before he started whispering something to the manager.

* * *

The trio of students finally arrived back at Hogwarts, having just gotten back from a drink in the Three Broomsticks. Ron, it seemed, had not waited for them, though they did get to meet up with the twins, Alicia, Angelina, Katie and surprisingly, Madison and Luna at a separate table, talking with a bunch of other third years. Harry, Neville and Hermione had joined them for awhile, while Madison and Neville talked, having realised that they had many similar interests, while Hermione was introduced to Luna who, though bewildering was quite fun to talk to. Harry eventually spotted Ron at dinner, looking moody as he shovelled impressive amounts of steak and kidney pie into his mouth, eliciting small looks of disgust on the faces of close by students. Harry and Neville attempted to invite Hermione to the dance lessons that Alicia had set up, but she was preoccupied by studying in the library it seemed. So, with their dance shoes heavy in their hands, and somewhat of a sense of dread heavy in their hearts, Harry and Neville made their way up to the sixth floor to the classroom where Alicia was putting on her dance classes.

"Good to see you Harry, Neville," said Alicia, greeting them as they came in.

"Thanks for inviting us Alicia, though I'm pretty sure you just want to see me make a fool of myself," said Harry jokingly, doing an impression of somebody falling over, while Neville nodded.

"Yeah, sounds about right, and I'll be stepping on everybody's feet," said Neville, while Alicia laughed.

"Suck it up princesses," she said, dragging them both into the room as they let out sounds of mock horror and cries for mercy. It seemed as though half of the girls in Gryffindor had come, along with a handful of boys from Gryffindor and a few from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Harry spent most of the evening being forced to dance with various women from the three present houses, mostly from his own year, but also a few from higher years. The class lasted for about an hour and a half before it was called quits. Harry was among the last to leave, with Neville and Madison leaving shortly before he was. Harry looked back at the room and saw that only Alicia and the other two Gryffindor Chasers were left. Walking back into the room, Harry approached Alicia and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Alicia, can I talk to you in private?" asked Harry, causing Alicia to glance at the other two girls, both of whom also looked somewhat nervous.

"I know what you want to talk about Harry, and I think Angelina and Katie should also be here," she answered finally, shuffling her feet a little, while Katie and Angelina looked on.

"A while ago, when Malfoy got pranked, you called me your little brother," began Harry carefully, seeing the embarrassed looks on the three girl's faces. "What exactly did you mean by it?" he asked. Angelina was the one who stepped forward this time.

"Well, you see Harry, the Gryffindor Quidditch team has been kind of like a family for a long time now, what with Wood and his mothering ways, and the twins acting like a pair of cheeky uncles, and..." Angelina trailed off.

"Ever since you joined the team, us three of always sort of thought of you as our little brother," said Katie softly, shocking Harry.

"None of us have ever had a younger sibling before, but when you came along, it felt like we did," said Alicia, resting her hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry for the most part was shocked, but happy. He had never found familial acceptance with the Dursleys, nor had he gotten the chance to start his own family in the end. The Weasley's were there, but he felt more like just another person there mostly. But maybe, just maybe, it wasn't too late to have a family, to have older sisters who cared for him. Harry looked up at the girls, who were startled to see tears in his eyes, though they were only visible for a moment as he hugged Alicia tightly, burying his face in her neck.

"Can I be your little brother?" Harry asked his voice quiet and muffled. Alicia smiled and hugged him closer, while Angelina and Katie hugged him from either side.

"Of course you can, little brother," whispered Alicia, hugging him tightly. The embrace held for a while before they separated, noticing that Harry had a few tears still.

"Harry, will you please tell us what's wrong? We've seen you fall from your broom, get your arm broken by a Bludger and get attacked by Dementors, but we've never seen you cry before," said Katie gently, holding onto his shoulders, while the other two were thinking the same thing. Harry was quiet for a minute, before giving his answer.

"I've never had a family before," he said sadly, mourning his parents briefly.

"Where did you live before Hogwarts, and where do you go during the summer?" asked Angelina quietly.

"If you like, I can show you, but it's not pretty picture," said Harry.

"Of course, anything so we can understand our brother better," said Alicia at once while the other two girls agreed. Harry took them up to the seventh floor, to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, shocking the trio when a door appeared out of nowhere.

"Harry, where are we?" asked Alicia curiously, wondering if Fred and George knew about this place.

"This is the Room of Requirement," explained Harry, taking one of Alicia's hands and one of Katie's, as he led them into the room. "It becomes whatever you require at the time." Harry showed them into a small room, decorated very much like the interior of the Gryffindor Common Room, with the exception of a stone basin in the centre of the room.

"What I'm about to show you is a very compressed version of my life before Hogwarts," said Harry, his face showing a grimace, as he pulled the memories of the Dursleys to the forefront of his mind, before throwing the silvery strands of memories into the Pensieve. With that, Harry pulled the three girls into the stone basin with him, slipping through the surface as though it were made of water, though they remained dry. Memories flashed before the eyes of the four teens, Angelina looking furious at the treatment by his relatives, Katie already in tears and Alicia stony faced, her knuckles clenched to the point they had turned white. When the flash of memories was over, Katie immediately hugged him tightly, while Angelina hugged them both. Alicia put her hand on Harry's shoulder gently, causing him to look up at his new older sister.

"Harry, I promise... We promise, no matter what it takes, you won't go back to those people ever again," she said seriously. "You can stay with any of us, or all of us, every summer until you finish Hogwarts if you like, and beyond even, we'll make sure you never have to see them again," she said, hugging him gently. Harry allowed a few tears to fall, as he finally had what he had wanted in both his lives.

A family.

* * *

After all the drama had ended, Harry and the three Chasers walked back to the Common Room in companionable silence. After reaching the Common Room, before they headed off to bed, the girls asked Harry if there was anything they could do to help him with the Second Task, to which Harry asked if they knew of ways to breathe underwater. The girls promised they would help him find a way, and left for their dormitories, chatting excitedly. Harry left for bed, a happy smile never leaving his face. Harry woke early the next morning, just less than two weeks before Christmas and the Yule Ball. He was having another meeting with his fellow champions this morning, this time to discuss a strategy to deal with the remaining Horcruxes and to defeat Voldemort. Harry left early for the Great Hall, where he would be meeting the others, bumping into Cedric along the way. The two Hogwarts champions talked about the holidays together, as they walked into the Great Hall, greatly surprising many other students, who assumed that the two rivals would be hostile towards each other. The student body was even more surprised when they sat down next to the champions of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The four champions had breakfast together, which was very enjoyable, as they could simply be themselves, and enjoyed making fun of each other throughout the meal. They all had an especially good laugh when Fleur was scolding Harry for throwing a bit of bacon at Cedric for a comment he'd made, when suddenly Fleur gave a loud burp, which she tried to cover with her hand. Fleur glared at the three boys, as they fell off their chairs laughing. Even the usually stoic Durmstrang champion was rolling on the ground laughing.

"Oh, very mature boys, now ze ole school are thinking you ave gone mad," said Fleur nonchalantly.

"Oh no, how did they find out," said Harry dramatically, causing Fleur to giggle and the other two to smirk, as they picked themselves up off the floor. As they were leaving, Professor McGonagall called out to them.

"Mr Potter and Mr Diggory!" she shouted as they were leaving.

"That's us," they called in unison. McGonagall smiled.

"50 points each to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, for demonstrating exactly what this tournament is about; international cooperation," she said proudly. Harry and Cedric grinned back at her, and sent her the thumbs up, before leaving with Fleur and Krum. They made their way back to the Room of Requirement, which made it resemble the Gryffindor Common Room once more.

"So, we all know that Voldemort is going to come back at the end of the year, unless we do something about it, so what do we think we should do?" started Cedric, shuddering a little as he said Voldemort's name, though it was a small one, and he hadn't stuttered with the name either.

"I think we need to let him revive, so we can take him down then and there," answered Harry, while the others nodded their assent.

"Do you haff any idea's to defeat him?" asked Krum, his arms crossed as he thought about ways to help.

"The only thing I know for sure is that we need to destroy his Horcruxes before we can destroy his real body, otherwise it would be pointless," said Harry, leaning back, as Fleur wrapped her arms around him, drawing him against her chest.

"Vait! I haff an idea!" exclaimed Krum, snapping his fingers.

"What is it Viktor?" asked Cedric, leaning forward in anticipation.

"In Durmstrang, ve learn about foul Horcrux magic's in class, but I remember Arithmancy teacher, Professor Rasputin explained something called Chain Destruction Magic, vich is magic that can link an object to similar objects and destroy the other objects but leave chained object intact. The magic requires ritual, but if ve can use magic on Voldemort..." Krum explained, as the other's eyes widened.

"We could hit Voldemort with it and destroy the other Horcruxes by using Voldemort's remaining soul fragment as a medium, then work together to take out a mortal Voldemort," breathed Harry. Fleur tightened her grip on Harry however.

"Zis magic, it will destroy ze Orcruxes, but what about ze one in Arry's scar?" asked Fleur quietly.

"The magic will only destroy the pieces of Voldemort's soul, it will not harm Harry," explained Viktor. The plan was quickly agreed on, and the four champions immediately went to planning, as well as practicing new spells.

* * *

Harry awoke early on Christmas Eve, the loud snores emitting from Ron interrupting his dreams of a certain Veela. Cursing and resisting the urge to curse his roommate, Harry tiptoed down the staircase, dressed for a jog and to train for the upcoming Tasks. Harry was disturbed from his train of thoughts, however, by Hermione, who was also surprisingly up early.

"Morning Hermione, what are you doing up so early?" greeted Harry, causing his friend to jump at the unexpected voice, her book falling to the floor with a dull thump.

"Harry! You're up early," exclaimed Hermione, picking up her book and sitting back down in the armchair.

"Yeah, hard to sleep through Ron snoring, so I thought I'd go for a jog and get some training done for the next task," explained Harry.

"Oh, so you know what it is then?" said Hermione, clearly impressed. "Well, can I come down as well? I'd like to see some of your spells, since I've confirmed that you've been hiding your talent now," asked Hermione.

"Sure, I'd be happy for you to come down," said Harry, smiling at her.

"Great! I'll be down in a few minutes," said Hermione excitedly, rushing up to the girl's dormitories. Harry chuckled and headed downstairs, heading towards the Quidditch pitch.

* * *

Harry had been practicing Kido and battle-based Alchemy, when Hermione arrived.

"Can you show me how to use Alchemy Harry?" she asked excitedly, as she drew closer.

"Sure, for you it will be easy to learn," said Harry, smiling at his now blushing friend. Harry grabbed a stick and drew a transmutation circle in the snow in front of him, before putting one hand on the circle and concentrating his magic on it, causing light to fill the circle, as the ice beneath him reformed in his hand as an ice lance.

"This is battle-based Alchemy, it can be used in duels and is quite handy, though this is of course, the slow way of doing it," explained Harry, gaining a confused look from his friend.

"What do you mean the slow way?" asked Hermione, as Harry reached into his bag. Harry pulled out a pair of black leather gloves, the back of which were emblazoned with red transmutation circles.

"People who practice alchemy for battle purposes use items that can be worn or used as an accessory which have premade circles on them, in order to speed up their alchemy," explained Harry, slamming his hands down onto bare patches of snow. The same light rose from the ground, and snow from the ground formed into a pair of ice katana in Harry's hands. "By using premade circles, an alchemist doesn't need to draw a circle in mid combat, and some alchemists even have them tattooed on their bodies, or use circles to use alchemy on themselves. There are records in a book in the Restricted Section called '_The Records of Amestris'_ which detail when alchemists were very common, and they were given titles that suited their particular alchemy. One alchemist was called the 'Iron Blood Alchemist' because his specialty was using alchemic gauntlets that could transmute the iron in his blood into weapons. Another, the 'Hydro Alchemist' used transmutation circles tattooed on his hands to boil or freeze the water in an opponent's body, just by touching them," explained Harry, causing Hermione to shiver, both at Harry's explanation and at the cold.

"I'd still like to learn it, even if I don't end up liking it, I think it would be really helpful in spell creating," said Hermione.

"Of course, but maybe we should go inside to learn this, we'll catch colds out here," replied Harry, wrapping his jumped around Hermione, before leading them both inside. Harry led Hermione up to the seventh floor, much to her confusion, until a door formed out of nowhere, causing her jaw to drop. Harry gave a bark of laughter, reminiscent of his godfather, before pulling her into a comfortable study, a roaring fire close to a large desk, and a bookshelf stacked to the brim with books of Alchemy.

"Now, Alchemy has a lot of rules that must be followed, which is why you could learn this, but Ron never could," explained Harry, drawing another confused look from his friend.

"But I thought Alchemy was all about experimenting," said Hermione, still looking confused.

"Alchemy has principles that must be followed at all times during experimentation," Harry explained. "The most important of which is called equivalent exchange, which is the founding principle of Alchemy. 'To obtain, something of equal value must be lost," recited Harry, pulling a book off the shelf closest to him.

"What is that?" asked Hermione curiously, craning her neck, reading the title '_The Tale of the Brothers Elric'_.

"This book describes a story made to promote the dangers of Alchemy, and the most taboo of all Alchemy," explained Harry, flipping open the book.

"You mean creating gold from lead right?" answered Hermione straight away.

"No, that is a rule in Alchemy, but there is something even more taboo," said Harry, grimacing as he came to the start of the story. It had always given him chills, ever since he first read it. "Human Transmutation, which I will explain to you with this story," explained Harry, though the words themselves gave Hermione a bad feeling indeed.

_Edward and Alphonse Elric lived in the village of Resembool their whole lives, growing up raised by their mother Trisha. The boy's father was an alchemist who left many years ago, something which the boy's resented him for. From an early age, both Ed and Al showed great interest in the science of Alchemy, something which both proved to have great talent in. They studied and practiced their Alchemy as they grew up, until one day, their mother was taken ill. Despite their best efforts, the boy's failed to find a cure for their mother, who they both loved more than anything else in the world. Soon, the sickness took her, and she died. Despite the danger, both boys delved into the forbidden art of Human Alchemy, a type of Alchemy that transmuted human souls. It was believed this type of Alchemy could bring people back to life. After a year of training, the boys were ready to try bringing their mother back to life. After gathering the materials that made up the human body, both boy's cut their fingers, believing that the blood their mother gave them would make for fair trade, in exchange for their mother's new life. In the end, both boys died in the attempt, their life force drained from their bodies. Such is the curse that is Human Alchemy._

Harry finished the book, closing it to see Hermione looking on in shock.

"How horrible! Why would somebody write that?" she said, thoroughly disturbed by the book's contents.

"That book lied," said Harry quietly. "The Elric brothers didn't die in that attempt; the author of the book just didn't want to expose the truth of what really happened.

"You mean... that story... it really happened?!" said Hermione, her eyes widening in shock. Harry pulled a small black journal from the bookcase, opening it, revealing yellowing pages filled with alchemic circles and designs.

"My brother and I knew the laws of science, of equivalent exchange," Harry read. "The gain required sacrifice. But we thought there was nothing more we could lose. We were wrong." Harry closed the book, already knowing what had happened.

"The Elric's didn't die in that attempt. They suffered much worse. Human Alchemy is forbidden because of the adverse effects on the user's body. In the case of Alphonse, his whole body was taken to the other side. Edward had his left leg taken, and he cut off his right arm in order to anchor his brother's soul to a suit of armour, so that Alphonse wouldn't die," said Harry, as Hermione listened in horror. "They travelled the world afterwards, hoping to find a way to have their bodies returned to normal. In the end, Alphonse was returned to normal by Ed, but with his memories of his brother wiped away, while Ed left for parts unknown. To this day, nobody knows what happened to Edward Elric, just that he existed," finished Harry, hugging Hermione gently as she sniffled, shedding tears for the brothers. Harry cleaned his friend's tears, before going over some alchemy with her, stopping eventually to go to breakfast, though Harry found that his mind wandered to the Elric's, silently sending a prayer to his great, great grandfather, Edward Elric, who had lost his family like him, but had eventually died a happy old man, surrounded by a loving family.

* * *

Harry returned back to the castle later that night, having gotten back from sneaking into Hogsmeade for last minute Christmas shopping. He made it all the way up to the Gryffindor Common Room, before being caught by Hermione.

"What are you doing up this late Harry?" asked Hermione, her eyebrows raised in suspicion.

"Actually I had some things to take care of, but I was just about get my telescope out and see the stars, since it's just before midnight, care to join me?" said Harry all at once, sweating bullets at being caught out.

"No thanks Harry, but I would like to know what you're hiding behind your back," said Hermione sweetly, though Harry could tell he was screwed. Giving up, Harry showed her the wrapped presents behind his back. Hermione's eyes softened, and she instinctively hugged him tightly.

"Oh Harry, you're always so good to your friends," she cooed.

"They're mostly for Alicia, Angelina and Katie, but I saw something else, so here," admitted Harry, handing a neatly wrapped parcel to Hermione, obviously a book. Harry smiled warmly at him, just as the clock ticked over to midnight.

"Happy Christmas Harry," said Hermione, hugging him, which he reciprocated.

"Happy Christmas Mione," replied Harry, smiling at his friend, before motioning to open the present, but Hermione shook her head.

"Sorry Harry, but I always leave yours for last, since I know it will be special," she said, smiling at him, before she bade him goodnight and left for bed. Harry smiled to himself, remembering in the future when he and Hermione had admitted to each other their familial feelings for each other. Hermione had even made a big event out of it, and had invited Harry out with just her and her family, to introduce them to her new brother. Smiling still, Harry left for bed.

* * *

And there we go, another chapter down! The next chapter is actually almost finished, just my main problem is finding wi-fi connections, since my cousin's internet won't work and the nearest wi-fi is a 3 mile walk. So, once i get back to London, maybe i'll have another chapter to upload, so that will be in about a week or two, depending on if I can make it to Cornwall too. Until then people, look forward to it.

Also polls have closed, Harry/Fleur wins by a landslide, sorry Harry/Fleur/Hermione fans. If i get time, i'll mke an alternate ending for you all, but thats all i can do really. Again i apologise for my inconvenient and irregular updates, but i hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Moonlight Ace, signing out


	12. The Yule Ball Part 1: Before the Ball

And hello once again my dear readers! Yes, I lied about posting it in two weeks, it's only been one week, but I didn't want to get any hopes up. My writing has been going quite well lately, so I find chapters getting easier and quicker to write for the time being. Warning: I don't own anything other than the 2 OC's mentioned in this chapter and the laptop I'm currently typing this on. And without further ado, i present to you, Chapter 12 of the Triwizard Tournament: Take Two - The Yule Ball Part 1: Before the Ball

Moonlight Ace is brought to you by the following sponsors... oh, wait, we don't have any sponsors... in that case, on with the show

* * *

Harry woke early the next morning, trying to remember what he had forgotten, though he quickly remembered when he realised he was staring into a huge pair of eyes, centimetres from his own face. Harry gave a yelp of surprise and fell out of bed.

"Dobby is sorry to be startling Harry Potter sir, Dobby is only wanting to be giving Harry Potter his Christmas present, sir," said Dobby, hopping off the bed and looking at Harry in worry.

"That's alright Dobby, just don't do that again please. Poke me next time or something," said Harry, picking himself up from the floor, as the others in the dorm began to wake.

"S'matter Harry, somebody attacking you?" asked Dean sleepily.

"Nah just Dobby. But you may as well wake up for the presents anyway," replied Harry.

"Good point Harry, Happy Christmas," said Seamus, yawning as he reached for his presents. Harry received all of the gifts he remembered, including the handy penknife from Sirius which had been destroyed at the end of his fifth year. But he also received a load of other gifts from new friends he'd made that year, as well as from the other champions. He was just about to start when he heard a cry of amazement.

"Harry! H-h-how did you get this?" asked Neville in shocked amazement, staring at a potted version of an Amazonian Archive plant.

"While we were in Hogsmeade that time I asked the manager at the magical plant shop to get one imported," said Harry, grinning at his friend's dumbfounded expression.

"B-b-but the Amazonian Archive is supposed to be extremely rare, it absorbs seeds from the ground to be extracted and grown by a herbologist and can absorb seeds from all over the world when it reaches adulthood! There isn't even one in the Hogwarts greenhouses!" exclaimed Neville frantically.

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it all up. Happy Christmas Neville!" replied Harry cheerfully. Neville, realising that Harry wasn't going to reconsider it, grasped his hand firmly and thanked him many times, while Harry laughed and waved it off. He knew that Neville wanted to open up a magical plant shop when he left Hogwarts, and knew this plant would help immensely with that, though he would never tell Neville just how much it cost.

"Hey Harry, cheers for the tickets mate!" called Dean, grinning as he waved the season tickets to West Ham football games.

"Harry mate, cheers for the duelling gear!" said Seamus, admiring his new duelling gloves and duelling sphere, which was meant to send out spells at a duellist for practice and could be altered to send out spells faster and more frequently. Ron also thanked Harry for the Chudley Cannons hat and the huge basket of sweets he had given him. Harry received a book on Seeker tactics and manoeuvres from Katie, a set of Seeker armour from Angelina, and his very own golden Snitch from Alicia, signed by the three of them 'from your favourite big sisters' which kept a smile on Harry's face all morning. Neville had gotten Harry a dragon hide jacket and duellist gloves designed to repel weaker hexes, Madison had sent him a packet of treacle fudge, much to Harry's delight, and Luna had sent Harry a book on Runes from Scandinavia. Finally, Harry had also received gifts from the other champions as well. From Cedric he had been given two decks of the same cards that Cedric had used in the first task, with a note explaining what each could do, Krum had sent Harry a book of obscure and powerful charms, written by someone in the Russian Revolution, and finally Fleur had given Harry a charmed sword necklace that held a real sword which could be enlarged at any point, as well as a locket with a photo the two of them had taken together earlier in the year. Dobby had almost cried when Harry had presented him with new pairs of socks, as well as a hat and jumper with Dobby's name imprinted on them. Dobby had actually cried when Harry had pulled on the socks Dobby had knitted for him, more so when Harry proudly wore them with his day gear, striding down to the Common Room still wearing them. Harry had only been down there for a few seconds when he heard a cry of joy and the sound of running feet, before Hermione appeared at the top of the stairs and ran into him, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Harry!" she squealed, her arms still tight around her friend, who was smiling at the scene.

"I'm guessing you liked your presents then" Harry guessed, as she finally let go.

"Yes, thank you so much! The book you gave me on Alchemy '_Alchemy for Beginners and Master's Alike: An Amalgamation of All Magic'_ looks incredible! And the necklace you gave me is absolutely gorgeous, I'm definitely wearing it tonight!" she exclaimed excitedly, showing off her new necklace, which consisted of an emerald, a ruby and a topaz linked together by a chain that sparkled when the light caught it.

"I'm glad you liked your presents, and thank you for your presents too," replied Harry, holding up the new black trench coat Hermione had given him. "I actually have another present to give to you, but I'll give it to you in private, so I can show you how to use it properly," whispered Harry, getting an excited look from his friend, who had obviously picked up that the new present, would be teaching her something. Harry inwardly chuckled at Hermione's enthusiasm when it came to learning, as they walked down the stairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry met Alicia, Angelina and Katie along the way, thanking them profusely for their gifts, while they squeezed him in a many armed hug and kissed his cheek repeatedly for the new Raika broom's Harry had imported from Japan for them, which were supposed to be just underneath a Firebolt in terms of craftsmanship and speed. The girls had walked with him and Hermione down to the Great Hall to sit with the Weasley twins, who also thanked Harry profusely for their own imported brooms, also from Japan, though their own Shichiseiken model's were more designed for quick bursts of speed, and were roughly between a Firebolt and a Nimbus 2001. The Quidditch team, plus Hermione breakfasted together, whilst admiring the elaborate Christmas decorations that were set up in the hall and all over the castle, though several times already, Peeves had been caught tying up first years and other stragglers with Christmas tinsel, and had twice dressed Mrs Norris up as a star and left her, yowling loudly at the top of the Christmas trees in the Great Hall.

* * *

Harry spent Christmas day with the Weasley clan, the three Chasers, Hermione, Neville, Madison, Luna and several others playing around in the Hogwarts grounds, visiting Hagrid, who had loved the enchanted dragon statue for Hagrid's mantelpiece, and (for the Quidditch team and several others) playing around on brooms. Alicia, Angelina, Katie and the twins had loved their new brooms, proclaiming that the Quidditch cup would be theirs again next year.

Harry excused himself at lunch, saying he wanted to spend some time with his date for the dance, earning many catcalls from the boys (though Ron had not heard and was staring dreamily at Fleur as she passed by). Harry met up with Fleur at the Beauxbatons carriage, who hugged him tightly as he approached.

"Joyeux Noel et bonne annee, Arry! Zank you so much for ze lovely necklace and ze wonderful book on Charms, you know zey are my favourite!" squealed Fleur, still hugging Harry, not that he minded being pressed against the beautiful Veela's soft bosom.

"Happy Christmas to you as well Fleur, and thank you for your gifts as well," replied Harry. He had actually placed enchantments on the necklace for protection, as well as an emergency Portkey that was phrase activated, in case of an emergency.

"Come inside, eet is freezing out zere!" she said, pulling him into the Beauxbatons carriage, and almost straight into Madame Maxime.

"What is ze Ogwarts second champion doing ere might I ask Fleur?" asked Maxime suspiciously.

"E is ere because I invited im, as my friend to celebrate ze oliday," said Fleur, determinedly staring up at her massive headmistress. Maxime stared back for a little while, still marvelling at the changes in her once frigid student, before nodding her head.

"Very well zen, I wish you both an appy oliday," she said finally, before turning to walk back to her own rooms.

"Merci Madam," thanked Harry, bowing, as Maxime turned back, surprise evident in her features, but said nothing, as she curtly bowed back and kept walking. Fleur led Harry towards her own rooms, further into the coach, drawing looks of surprise and suspicion from many of her classmates, though they were all quite shocked when Harry spoke to them in fluent French, wishing them a happy holiday and other such things. Finally they reached Fleur's rooms, which were quite large, though the inside was a little messy, which Fleur noticed quickly, waving her wand and sweeping everything from the floor into a corner of the room.

"So, shall we ave lunch?" asked Fleur, just as two house elves Apparated into the room, alongside a small trolley with several dishes on it.

"Mm, sounds good to me, I can't tell you how much I miss French cooking," said Harry, inhaling deeply, getting a whiff of his favourite risotto with pancetta and chicken, as well as ratatouille, tomatoes and some small desserts.

"Indeed, ze British cooking is alright for some, but ze French cooking I find is much tastier and less eavy," laughed Fleur, spooning out generous amounts of the risotto and tomatoes for Harry, remembering how much he had adored risotto the first time she had cooked some for him. He had eaten three plates of it and had hexed Ron's mouth off when Ron had claimed French food was terrible compared to British cooking. The memory was one of her favourites for casting a Patronus Charm. The two talked all throughout lunch bout small, meaningless things, sharing laughs at old memories of the future, telling each other jokes, and all in all just enjoying their time together. For though the future was already changing, neither knew whether they would survive it once more, not knowing what may change and what could not be avoided. They knew all of this was a possibility, no matter how small, so they were taking the time to enjoy being with each other once more.

* * *

Harry returned to his friends after lunch, hugging Fleur and promising to meet her tonight before the ball. They had all concluded the day with a massive snowball fight, with Harry, Hermione, Neville, Madison and the three Chasers, versus the four Weasley's, Dean, Seamus and Luna. They were still in the middle of the fight when Hermione and the other girls left.

"Three hours to get changed?" asked Ron loudly, copping a faceful of snow from a smirking Harry, who had just bewitched a snowman to chase after Dean, who countered by melting it. The fight only ended when Harry and the twins created a giant snowman, which promptly exploded and covered the remaining combatants in ice. The group left for their common rooms, shivering from the remains of their explosive snowman. Harry saw no sign of Hermione as he came into the Gryffindor Common Room, and a slight worry filled his mind, since Krum hadn't asked her two weeks ago. Hoping his worries were for nothing, Harry continued to the dormitories, to get changed to meet Fleur. Dean, Seamus, Neville and Ron were halfway through getting changed, though by the sounds of it, Ron hadn't acquired a date for the ball, and had been expecting that Neville wouldn't either. It was causing quite the argument, which only ended when Neville promptly conjured a flock of sparrows to dive bomb the redhead, who eventually succumbed and ran down the stairs, swearing loudly as he went.

"Ignore him mate, he's left it too long and he didn't want to be the only idiot without a partner," said Dean consolingly, while Seamus and Harry nodded their agreement.

"And think how jealous he'll be seeing you dancing with your lovely date, while he's dancing with Goyle," added Harry, causing Neville to crack a smile, while Dean and Seamus snickered at the thought of their redhead roommate dancing with the Slytherin's resident troll. The remaining four boys changed quickly, each assisting one another with their ties and helping adjust robes. Harry had forgone his original bottle green robes, in favour of a more forest green colour, while Neville had taken deep blue robes with silver lining.

"Oh, almost forgot," exclaimed Harry, pulling something out from near his four-poster bed. "Flowers for your ladies," said Harry, pulling out several corsages he had made for his friends.

"Awesome Harry!" exclaimed Seamus, accepting a corsage of tulips from his friend.

"Cheers mate, you're a lifesaver," said Dean gratefully, also accepting his corsage. Neville smiled his thanks to Harry, taking a corsage of violets for Madison. Harry smiled at his friends, before grabbing a small device from his bag, for later. Harry then made his way down to the Common Room to wait for Hermione, and for Neville to finish getting ready. Harry found Ron in the Common Room, still trying to get his robes to look less like a dress, though he seemed to be having some trouble in that regard.

"Can't believe Neville of all people has a date of all people," Ron grumbled, as Harry came nearer. "It looks like it's just us flying solo tonight Harry," he added, cutting off some more lace from his robes.

"Sorry Ron, I have a date as well," replied Harry, pulling out a bouquet of white roses and a small box to give to Fleur.

"What? With who?" said Ron in surprise.

"Sorry, that's a surprise for tonight," said Harry mischievously, as Ron grumbled. Harry had the distinct feeling that there was something in the corner of his eye, realising a Notice-Me-Not Charm was in place, and knowing exactly who it was, Harry signalled to Neville, who had just come down the stairs and was glaring at Ron's back. Harry and Neville walked out through the portrait hole, while Harry turned to look at the opposite wall.

"Didn't want Ron to notice you then?" Harry asked, making Neville give him a confused look, until Hermione's voice answered him, making Neville swivel to look where the voice was coming from, his jaw dropping as he caught sight of Hermione, the spell having been broken.

"How did you know I was here Harry?" asked Hermione, effectively breaking the spell, revealing Hermione in her periwinkle dress robes, her hair shiny and straight, twisted into an elegant bun.

"Use as many Notice-Me-Not Charms for pranking Malfoy as I do and you begin to notice how to pick up on them," grinned Harry, sweeping Hermione into a brotherly hug. "You look gorgeous Mione," he added, getting an embarrassed, yet pleased blush from the girl.

"Thank you Harry, I didn't really want to face Ron like this, he's still convinced I'm lying about having a date," she said, frowning at the last bit.

"Nah, I can't imagine you'd go through all this trouble for a lie, and do I really want to know how long that hair took?" replied Harry, grinning as she gave him a sheepish grin.

"Not really. You two look spectacular too," she complimented, getting an embarrassed look from Neville and a grin from her best friend.

"Always with the tone of surprise Mione?" asked Harry in a mock hurt voice, causing Hermione to giggle. It was then that Harry noticed something sparkling around Hermione's neck. Seeing where he was looking, Hermione smiled.

"I did say I was going to wear it tonight," she said, still smiling as she fingered the necklace Harry had given her for Christmas. Harry grinned at this, as the three of them set off for the Entrance Hall, where they were meeting up with everybody.

* * *

It was 7:15 when they arrived in the Entrance Hall, where Neville met with Madison. Madison had blushed furiously when Neville had handed her the corsage.

"Thank you Neville, and thank you Harry for the earrings you gave me for Christmas," said Madison, smiling at them both, the amethyst earrings matching her deep violet dress robes.

"And thank you for the book Madison, Harry replied, smiling brightly at her, as he looked around at others arriving in the Hall.

"Hermione, you look absolutely beautiful tonight," said a bright, cheerful voice from Harry's left. Harry turned to see who had spoken, just as Hermione walked in that direction, looking embarrassed and pleased, as well as a tad nervous. The boy who had spoken looked to be a 5th year, tall with an athletic and slim body and jet black hair that was a bit longer than usual, with a small amount covering his forehead. Harry grinned, as Hermione went to introduce him.

"Harry, Neville, and Madison this is my date, his name is Jesse O'Donnell, 5th year from Ravenclaw," she said, as Jesse walked forward, his hand outstretched to Harry in greeting.

"It's nice to meet you Harry, Hermione talks about you all the time," said Jesse, giving him a friendly smile, which Harry returned as he shook hands with the familiar man. Harry had met Jesse after Voldemort had been vanquished. He and Jesse had gotten along very well, and Jesse had been a key member in the fight against the Order of the Snake, fighting alongside him and Hermione, as he had become an Auror after Hogwarts.

"It's nice to meet you too Jesse, Hermione hasn't mentioned you I'm afraid, but that's probably just her getting back at me for not telling her who my date was," he replied, grinning as Jesse laughed at Hermione's sheepish expression, as she punched Harry in the arm.

"Vell, this is a nice scene Harry," said Krum appearing behind in his deep red dress robes. Behind Krum was, most surprisingly, Luna Lovegood, wearing sun coloured dress robes with a large yellow flower in her hair. She actually looked quite stunning.

"Hello Harry Potter," she greeted him, her dreamy voice.

"Hey Luna, nice to see you again," replied Harry, glancing across at Krum, posing the question through his raised eyebrows. Krum chuckled and waved his hand slightly, motioning that he would tell Harry later. Harry bade Hermione, Neville, Madison and Jesse goodbye, as he followed Krum and Luna towards where Cedric was standing with Cho Chang. Cho smiled kindly at Harry as he approached, while Cedric clapped both him and Krum on the back.

"Hey gentlemen, ready to dance?" said Cedric excitedly, while Luna talked to Cho, who was obviously used to the younger girl and was chatting with her.

"You sound very excited about this dance Cedric," chuckled Harry, glancing around for Fleur.

"Vell, vith vhat ve haff planned, it should prove to be quite entertaining," said Krum, smiling a little as he glanced across at Luna, who was still talking to the older Ravenclaw.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see everybody's faces," said Cedric happily, as Cho came back with Luna.

"What about everybody's faces Cedric?" she asked, leaving Cedric sweating as he tried to come up with an answer. Thankfully he was saved from answering, when many of the waiting people went silent, most of the boys looking at the doors with their jaws hanging loose. Harry didn't even need to look to know that Fleur had arrived. Harry turned around and, despite being prepared, still found it hard to believe that the stunning woman in front of him was mortal, and not a goddess. She wore an elegant silver dress that seemed to sparkle brilliantly as she moved, which matched the beautiful necklace around her neck, which was a set of five diamonds set into a pentagram design, hanging from her slender neck. Her hair was straight and shiny, hanging freely down her back. All in all, you would be hard pressed to ever find a more beautiful woman in the world. Harry grinned inwardly as he imagined the looks on everybody's faces in a moment. From the corner of his eye, Harry saw realisation dawning in both Cedric and Krum's eyes, bewilderment quickly replaced by glee, as both subtly conjured magic-resistant camera's, waiting for the inevitable Kodak moment. Nobody was disappointed, as Fleur walked towards the other champions, with the eye of every male on her, only for almost everyone in the hall to become shocked, when she stopped in front of Harry, giving him a heavenly smile, as he bowed t her and took her hand gently, kissing the back of her hand with the delicacy of holding glass.

"Bonsoir ma belle fleur," said Harry, smiling at Fleur, who smiled back, before gently kissing each cheek.

"Bonsoir Arry, vous regardez incroyable," she replied, still with that gorgeous smile on her face. Harry produced the bouquet of white roses, handing them to the stunned Fleur, before picking one out from the bunch and carefully placing it in her hair.

"Jamais une fleur plus belle," whispered Harry softly to her. Fleur's cheeks had a dusting of pink on them from Harry's words, which she knew were completely his own feelings. Suddenly the doors opened, and Professor McGonagall stepped out and began ushering the students into the Great Hall, where the house tables had been replaced by a number of smaller, circular tables, where the students began sitting at. Harry noticed Neville, Madison, Hermione and Jesse sitting at another table with Michael Corner, who was with Ginny, and Ron, who sat alone, his eyes filled with a mix of emotions, as they flicked between Hermione, where they showed betrayal, Corner where they sparked with the anger of a protective older brother, and jealousy as he stared up at Harry sitting with Fleur. Honestly Harry found it just a bit amusing, as his friend's eyes flickered all over the place while he fumed silently. Harry found that he didn't even care all that much, and was much more content talking to Fleur, enjoying himself and laughing together with her, as they talked about small, unimportant things and chatted to the other champions and their dates. Cho had expressed her surprise that Harry hadn't approached her, but was quite happy that he had found himself such a lovely date, which Harry was grateful for. Luna and Krum were somewhat detached from the rest of the group, though small parts of their conversation filtered through here and there, and Harry almost choked when he heard Krum asking all about the Aquavirus Maggots that seemed to live in the Black Lake. Harry and Fleur had been thoroughly enjoying their conversation, before Ludo Bagman, Percy Weasley and, most unfortunately, Rita Skeeter sat down at the Champions table, along with the head's of each school, with Percy seating himself right next to Harry.

"So Harry, how do you feel about the ball tonight, with the half Veela Beauxbatons Champion as your date? Excited, nervous of failure?" asked Rita straight away. All of a sudden, Rita's Quick Quotes Quill burst into flames, though Harry noticed the subtle movements of Fleur's hand under the table.

"Oh, terribly sorry Rita, it appears you might have to do this interview another time," said Harry, trying to sound sincere, though the sarcasm in his voice sounded very obvious to him.

"Oh, not a problem dear Harry, I always carry spares," said Skeeter sweetly, pulling out another acid green quill, which made Harry groan inwardly.

"_I cannot wait until later tonight when we stick her in her jar,"_ thought Harry tiredly, watching with some amusement, as Fleur 'accidentally' burned each and every quill Skeeter brought out.

* * *

And there we have it, another chapter gone. Our next chapter shall focus on the dance itself, and that which Harry and the other time-travelling champions to have up their sleeves to make the ball more interesting. Hopefully it shan't be a long wait for the next chapter, I'm part way through it now, but it shouldn't take longer than a couple of weeks. Hope to see all my readers again soon! remember, press the review button :)

P.S I'm also writing my own novel at the moment, so if there are any delays, I'll most likely be working on that. If i ever finish it and publish it online, anybody interested in reading it?

Moonlight Ace out


	13. The Yule Ball Part 2: Memories Anew

Hello all, and welcome to the new chapter. Hopeflly not too long a wait, I've been very involved in writing my novel 'The Dawn of Dusk' so I've been quite busy with that, and planning a trip to Paris during the 11th and 13th of October. Anybody from Paris want to chill? hahaha. anyway, without further ado, presenting the new chapter, Yule Ball Part Two: Memories Anew

Moonlight Ace is brought to you... nah, nevermind, still no sponsors yet. I don't own Harry Potter or any songs mentioned, if i did own Harry Potter i wouldn't be writing my own novel and if i was a succesful musician I'd have a girlfriend xD

* * *

Harry sat quietly talking to Fleur as they ate their meals, both of which were French, something Fleur was quite happy with. Harry had managed to get rid of Rita Skeeter with Fleur's help, by subtly hitting her with a Compulsion Charm under the table, which convinced her to leave dinner early, while Fleur excused herself for the bathroom, returning a couple minutes later, a triumphant grin on her face and a small, fat beetle in a jar, which she silently banished to her quarters, with the jar under an Unbreakable Charm.

With the nuisance of Skeeter gone, Harry began to enjoy the dance much more, as he conversed with Fleur, Cedric, Krum, Luna, Cho and the head's of both his own school, as well as Fleur's. Harry managed to vaguely make it look like he was listening to Percy, though honestly he couldn't wait to just get onto the dance floor and away from him and Bagman, who was once more trying to offer Harry advice on the tournament, his bet with the goblins obviously being rather straining on the gambling obsessed man. Thankfully, soon after finishing his risotto and duck, Dumbledore announced the opening of the ball. Taking Fleur's hand delicately in his own, Harry made his way onto the dance floor with his fellow champions. Eyes were watching Harry and Fleur mostly though, the most desired witch of the whole school year paired with the Boy Who Lived, and both school Champions no less!

"Puis-je avoir cette danse mademoiselle?" asked Harry, smiling at his date, who smiled widely back and curtsied as Harry bowed, before putting his hand on her waist, while taking her other hand in his, as the song began. Harry lead first, staring deeply into Fleur's blue eyes, and the colour of the sky. And just like that, Harry felt something stirring in his chest. At the same time, Fleur couldn't hear the whispers in the room, nor could she see the satisfied grins of Cedric and Viktor, or the serene smiles of their partners. All she would focus on were the deep green eyes of the boy – no, the man who was dancing with her. In the future she married Bill Weasley, had a couple of years of happiness, fought in a war, became dissatisfied with her marriage, been cheated on and had her heart broken by Bill and mended by Harry, and finally being brought back in time. Maybe it had taken all of that to realise that her love may lay elsewhere. The dance continued on, many of Harry's friends watching. Hermione and Neville smiled happily for their friend who, for once, looked completely happy, without any worries. Ron looked on in jealousy, wishing that he was in Harry's place. Dean and Seamus were looking on with a mix of envy and awe, secretly proud of their dorm mate for getting such a hot date. And Alicia, Angelina and Katie were all cooing quietly, proud that their little brother had gotten such a babe for his date, while Fred and George were pretending to weep for the success of their little brother, though inwardly and outwardly they were both very impressed with the boy they considered a brother.

The dance finally ended to much applause, though mostly from the girls. Fleur grinned at Harry, as they swapped dance partners, much to the confusion of the onlookers. Everybody gaped when Cedric bowed to Harry.

"May I have this dance?" asked Cedric, trying not to laugh, while Harry smirking badly curtsied to him, and allowed Cedric to take his hand and waist, while Fleur, also trying not to laugh, took Luna by the hand, who accepted graciously. Cho looked very happy dancing with the Quidditch star, while the other champions danced, to the shock of the watching crowd.

"My Cedric, you dance divinely," said Harry in a high voice.

"As do you my dear Harry," said Cedric, using a deep baritone, as they both struggled not to burst into tears of amusement. Fred and George had already done so, as had the Chasers and several of their friends. Eventually, Fred and George pulled themselves together and joined them on the dance floor, dancing with each other, which brought along more of the braver students to dance. Harry grinned at Krum, who he was currently waltzing with, who smirked back and looked across at Cedric, who was leading a four person dance with himself, Luna, Cho and Fleur, and grinned merrily at the both of them. Eventually, they broke apart and returned to dancing with their respective partners, which encouraged the rest of the students and teachers to join in. Harry had another two dances with Fleur, before he was tapped on the shoulder. Turning around, Harry was met with Alicia and George, who was at grinning at him.

"Harry mate, that was brilliant what you guys did there!" said George, clapping him on the Harry grinned back at him.

"Cheers Gred. Alicia, can I have this dance?" said Harry high fiving George, before holding his hand out to Alicia, who smiled and took it. Harry looked at Fleur, who smiled before shooing him off to dance with his sister, while she danced with George.

"Nice job landing such a beautiful date Harry, how did you manage that?" complimented Alicia, as they twirled about on the dance floor.

"Thanks Alicia, we actually talked about it since we both get along great, and we decided to go together and see what happens," replied Harry truthfully. "By the way, you look gorgeous tonight," he added, getting a smile from his big sister. She was wearing light pink dress robes and had a gold pendant around her neck. The dance ended shortly after and, one after the other, Harry was roped into dances with both of his other big sisters, then for a joke dance with the twins, who he told about the Champions plans for the dance. The twins were obviously ecstatic and said they were eagerly waiting when they unveiled their masterpiece. Finally, Harry found himself back in Fleur's arms for a dance.

"Are you enjoying the dance Fleur?" he asked, as they slow danced together.

"Oui Arry, I am indeed," she replied, her eyes sparkling with joy, her Yule Ball happening once more, only this time with a partner she truly wanted to be here with.

"I'm glad," said Harry truthfully, smiling at her in the way only Harry could, though both his and Fleur's smiles turned to somewhat evil identical grins.

Harry and Fleur manoeuvred there dancing over to Hermione and Neville's table, just as the song finished. Harry could see that Cedric, Cho, Krum and Luna were all making towards the table, as well as the Chasers and the twins.

"Harry, I didn't know you could dance like that," said Hermione, as Harry pulled up a chair next to her.

"Wanted to keep it a surprise," lied Harry, knowing that he couldn't tell her he learned it in the future. Neville grinned across at Harry, before nodding at Fleur in appreciation, making the pair blush. Everybody laughed at their expressions, as the rest of the Quidditch team sat down at the table.

* * *

Harry was having a wonderful time talking to Neville, Hermione, Madison and Jesse. He and Jesse were getting along famously now, as though they'd known each other for years. It helped that Harry had met him in the future before and knew what a great guy he was. Jesse was quite a comedian, though his jokes tended to make people groan as much as they laughed, and he was also quite the singer, something Harry had found out one night when he, Jesse, Hermione and Ron had been out at a karaoke bar. Ron was complaining loudly about doing muggle things, much to Hermione's chagrin, but Jesse had found the idea fascinating and had instantly jumped into it. His singing had impressed Hermione and annoyed Ron, who left soon after. Hermione had barely noticed, as she had been busy wetting herself laughing, after Harry and Jesse got up and did a duet of 'Time Warp' from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Harry excused himself, offering his hand to Madison for the next dance who, giving Neville a quick glance, who nodded his head with a smile, took Harry's hand, as he led them out to the dance floor. Harry noticed Madison's frown when another dull wizard song came on, and decided it was time to set off the fun. Motioning to Fleur, Cedric and Krum, all of whom raised their wands, Harry raised his own and shot off a silent, invisible spell at the stage, which glowed as four combined spells hit it. A magic-resistant DJ stand erupted out of the stage, the tunes of the wizard song dying down quickly, to be replaced by muggle music. Muggleborn's and Halfbloods alike cheered at the change in music, while even a few Pureblood's sighed in relief at the change, as all began dancing. The teachers were all bewildered, though several of them, Dumbledore and Flitwick chief among them, were quite pleased by the new music. Currently, 'Mambo No.5' by Lou Bega was playing, much to the amusement of Flitwick, who was very in tune with muggle music, as he firmly believed that wizard's couldn't do music as well as their non-magical counterparts.

Harry grinned at Madison, whose face had turned from shock at the change in the music, to glee as she loved muggle music much more. Madison took Harry's lead, as they began to dance to the song. The two turned many heads on the dance floor, as they danced back to back, before Harry grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into the air, twirling her, before putting her through his legs then back to her feet. Madison took it in stride, the excited smile never leaving her face. Her hair looked a bit messed up, but Harry personally thought the wavy look suited her great.

"Do you like our gift to the dancers?" asked Harry cheekily, as he spun her around, catching her in his arms.

"It's wonderful Harry!" she called, blushing slightly in his arms, though she continued to smile. The song ended, with 'Piano Man' replacing it. Madison plucked up her courage, as they walked back to the table, and gently kissed his cheek, before attempting to hurry away, though Harry caught her by the wrist and spun her back to face him.

"My turn first," he said, kissing her cheek in return, smiling at her as he did. This had the effect of turning her whole face red, though she managed a weak smile, as she tried valiantly not to faint. Neville grinned heartily at Harry, thankful that Madison had plucked up the courage. He took Madison's hand, leading her off for another dance, while Harry noticed that she was hugging herself against Neville's body, making Harry grin.

"Hey, Romeo, forgetting someone?" said Hermione amusedly, turning Harry to face her. Harry looked over at Jesse, who smiled and nodded. Harry smiled at them, leading Hermione onto the dance floor, in time for the next song, which most conveniently was 'Jessie's Girl'. Somewhat embarrassed at the song title and Harry's smug grin, Hermione gave him a half-hearted punch to the shoulder, as they took to the dance floor.

"I'm really glad you and Jesse get along Harry," said Hermione gratefully, as they danced together.

"He's a really good bloke, and he seems to really like you, why wouldn't i like him," said Harry lightly. "Seriously though, he breaks your heart, I break his face," said Harry seriously all of a sudden.

"You didn't actually say that to him did you?" asked Hermione in a deadpan voice.

"Nah, but I was certainly thinking it loudly," said Harry, snickering at the look on her face.

"You know I love you like a brother right Harry. Please don't make me commit fratricide," she said, smiling at him as he shivered.

"Don't do that Mione, that's spooky," he said, making her giggle.

"So Harry, how did you all do that to the music," she asked, gesturing to the people now dancing comfortably with the muggle tunes.

"Trade secret young lady," said Harry cryptically, making Hermione pout. Suddenly, the song stopped and 'Turning Japanese' came on. Instantly, Harry shot a look at Jesse and they both started laughing uncontrollably.

""What?" asked the puzzled Hermione.

"I think Harry and I are the only ones here who know what this song is actually about," said Jesse, coming to Harry's rescue, though he was still snickering. Seeing the puzzled look on her face, Jesse leant down and whispered something in her ear. Instantly Hermione's face turned bright red, which made Harry snicker.

"I don't think I can ever listen to the Buggles again now," said Hermione, looking slightly put off. Harry and Jesse laughed together, as they walked back to the table together.

* * *

Harry spent more time talking with his date and the rest of the friends, while also taking the girls for dances, dancing the Macarena with the Chasers and Fleur, while everybody else tried to copy them and, much to the amusement of many onlookers, Harry, Cedric, Krum and the twins got up and sang karaoke with 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. Everything suddenly came to an abrupt halt as a wolf howl was heard. The twins' eyes widened, knowing what this was from something Harry had shown them, but when they looked around, they couldn't find Harry. Cedric and Krum also appeared to be gone. Suddenly Harry danced through the doors, as a jazzy music filled the hall, though it had an underlying spooky feel to it. Harry began to speak in a dark creepy voice, which chilled many to the bone.

"Darkness falls across the land.  
The midnight hour is close at hand.  
Creatures crawl in search of blood,  
to terrorize y'alls neighbourhood.

And who so ever should be found,

Without the soul for getting down,

must stand and face face the hounds of Hell.

And rot inside a corpses shell."

At this, people began to shuffle into the hall. Cedric, Krum and a host of others, though all looked like some sort of undead horror. They looked like zombies, or perhaps Inferi. The twins grinned, before applying Glamour Charms that made them look like the other zombies.

"The foulest stench is in the air,  
the funk of forty thousand years.  
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb  
are closing in to seal your doom.  
And though you fight to stay alive,  
your body starts to shiver.  
For no mere mortal can resist...  
The evil of the thriller."

At this, the zombies began closing in on Harry, who made it look as though he was as frightened as most of the other dancers and teachers alike, with the exception of his friends, Dumbledore and Flitwick. The zombies had almost closed in on Harry, when he suddenly stood up, looking like a zombie himself. Then, surprisingly for most people, the zombies began to follow Harry's movements, beginning some sort of dance. The zombies were completely in sync with Harry's movements. The music continued with a jazzy sound, intermixed with a spooky undertone. Suddenly various braver muggleborns and Harry's group ran into the middle of it all, finding that a Compulsion Charm had been woven into the floor, to make everybody follow the strange dance. Suddenly, Harry made all the zombies, and the students in the area do some strange movements, before he span around shouting "Cause this is Thriller!"

"Thriller night!" shouted Cedric, as he un-zombified and Harry zombified. "And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike!" The rest of the school relaxed as it was revealed to be a dance, before they began clapping in appreciation. The song finally ended several minutes later, with Harry, Cedric and Krum bowing to the audience, who all applauded the spectacular performance. The boys walked back with the twins, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, Terry Boot, Ernie Macmillan and Jesse, all of whom were still zombified and laughing as they chattered excitedly about the last dance, clapping the three male Champions on the backs in appreciation.

"Harry mate that was wicked!" shouted Dean and Seamus in unison, while Neville nodded fervently, grinning like a madman, which quite spooky indeed while he was still zombified.

"I see you had fun," said an amused voice. Harry turned to see Fleur, grinning ear to ear at the scene, while Hermione was admiring the looks on everybody's faces and Luna was talking excitedly to her partner. The Chasers all hugged Harry, giggling loudly at how funny it all looked.

* * *

Harry started dancing with Fleur again, having several jazz and swing songs with her, and even enjoying some Jersey Boys songs with her, before Fleur announced that she wanted to take a breather, and that she knew what song was on next. Harry counted over the songs in his head, before his eyes widened when he realised what song would be next.

"Ced! Viktor! It's almost show time!" shouted Harry, making both their eyes widen when they realised what was next. Harry and Fleur got a drink, as they prepared for the next song, something they had all decided to do together. The four Champions left the Hall for a minute, to get ready, as Cho, Luna, Hermione and the rest of the group wondered what they were up to.

"Cedric said that they were all going to do a dance together later on, but he didn't say what," said Cho, who looked curious as to what they were planning. Suddenly, the lights dimmed considerably, until a light appeared on the stage. The entirety of the Hall stared in disbelief, while Cho looked halfway between wanting to laugh and wanting to hide under the table. For on the stage, was none other than Cedric, dressed in some sort of bright green robe and matching pants. The shocking thing was the giant black moustache that he had suddenly grown, which had also made his hair black, giving him the appearance of a stereotypical Russian of some sort. Suddenly a second light lit up on the other end of the stage, causing more dropped jaws. If Cedric's appearance had shocked people, then it was nothing compared to their expressions at Krum's new look. He was wearing a similar outfit to Cedric, though completely electric blue in colour, and his hair was now completely gone, leaving him looking completely different. A third light came up, causing more shock, as they looked at a woman with wavy, strawberry blonde hair and some sort of long, form-fitting red dress. Having seen the other two, they assumed this to be the Beauxbatons Champion, though she looked nothing like Fleur. Finally, another light came on in the centre of the stage next to Fleur, shocking everybody once more, as a man with a long scraggly beard and moustache appeared, wearing a Russian Cossack and a long red and gold cape, which he flung behind him. Nobody needed to be told that this was Harry Potter, albeit with some serious, serious renovations.

"Hello Hogwarts!" Shouted the man with the cape. "Tonight, Dschinghis Khan shall perform Moskau for you. Prepare to be amazed!" he shouted, to complete silence, as music filled the air, and the dance floor transformed into a disco stage.

"Is this really happening?" asked Hermione vaguely, as Jesse whooped and clapped with it, as it was one of his favourite songs. Everybody listened to the catchy song, as the four Champions sang together in their deeper voices, before breaking out into a sort of Russian kick-dance, with Harry leading as the moustached man with the cape. Eventually others joined them, some embarrassedly, others like the twins quite cheerfully, and as they all began the dance. Hilarity ensued when several people fell over backwards trying the dance, though they laughed as well and kept going.

* * *

The song finally ended with cheering as the four champions began dancing even more complexly, before they finally finished amidst a roar of cheering from the entire hall. The Champions stepped off the stage, quite exhausted from all the dancing and singing, and were escorted back to their table by all of their cheering friends. Harry and Jesse went to get drinks for Fleur and Hermione, talking excitedly about the dance, as Jesse had also joined in the dancing.

"Uh, Harry I think yours and Hermione's redhead friend is walking this way, and he looks none too happy," whispered Jesse. Harry looked up, to see a glaring Ron Weasley heading his way. Harry sighed, as Fleur, Hermione and Ginny joined them, having also seen him heading towards Harry.

"I think this is where the suffering and misery part of our night kicks off," said Harry, bracing himself for the incoming verbal assault.

* * *

And finally, another chapter gone by! I'll work for the other chapters to be done soon, but I am also concurrently working on my own novel, which I'm pleased to announce is well underway. I am having some difficulties with translations however, and would like to ask for help from my fellow authors and readers. If anybody speaks German, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian or any other European languages or any Asian languages that can be written in an English alphabet, translation help would be very much appreciated. I know a while ago i was offered translation for French which would be exceptionally helpful, though i cannot for the life of me find that particular review, so I ask for anybody from these countries for translation help, if at all possible.

Hope you all enjoyed part two of the Yule Ball Retake, next chapter: Confrontations and Confessions. See you all soon

P.S has anybody review ever heard of review subliminal review messaging? I review thought i'd give review it a review try, to see review if anybody might review review. xD


	14. The Yule Ball Part 3: Confessions

Hello my awesome readers, and welcome to the latest chapter! As always, still no sponsors, still don't own anything other than Madison and Jesse (If i owned Harry Potter do you really think I'd have let Sirius die?) and of course, I'm broke as hell. Anyway, I'd like to extend a warm and very grateful thank you to all the readers who offered to help me with translations, it's an enormous help for an enormous dream. Also, my mistake, the Buggles did not do 'Turning Japanese' it was the Vapours, i was looking at the wrong bit in my playlist, my mistake all.

Still looking for French translators if anybody is interested and actually I'll be in Paris on the 11th to the 13th, so if anybody wants to show me around or tell me how to get to the Arc de Triomphe, that would be excellent :)

Moonlight is brought to you by the following, blag blah blah, we get the drill xD

enjoy the new chapter entitled 'Yule Ball part 3: Friendship Lost, Love Gained' (Alternately called 'The Red-head Rage Fest') lame titles, I know.

* * *

"I thought we were friends Harry!" yelled Ron as soon as he was in hearing distance.

"What are you talking about Ron?" asked Harry, tensing as though preparing for a fight.

"Where to bloody start!" he yelled angrily. "First, you don't set me up with a date for the dance, and then you ditch me to spend the night with the Veela! Then, you ignore me all night while you have fun with everybody else and dance to stupid Muggle music! Finally, all this tournament business, you claim you didn't enter yourself, yet you seem to be doing fine in it! I'll bet you planned all this to get a shot with the Veela chick!" Ron's rant finished his face red in exertion and anger, as Harry stood there calmly, attempting to hold back on punching the redhead in the face.

"Ron, none of us ditched you; you could have joined in with the dancing anytime you wanted. And you know full well that Harry didn't enter himself, and he certainly wouldn't ever do it to impress a girl," stated Hermione coldly, having had just about enough of Ron, already upset at him for trying to ruin the night.

"And you! You're fraternising with the enemy!" spat Ron at Hermione, who raised an eyebrow.

"Fraternising with the enemy?" she repeated.

"He's a Ravenclaw! Gryffindor's make friends with other Gryffindor's! You could have spared yourself some embarrassment if you'd just admitted you wanted to go with me in the first place, but instead you make off with some Ravenclaw who's way too old for you anyway!" yelled Ron, his face turning red from anger. Hermione was looking absolutely furious at this point.

"How dare you?! First of all, who ever said it was illegal to make friends with people outside of Gryffindor? Secondly, his name is Jesse, and he's only a year older than me. Thirdly, I have never wanted to go to the ball with you, ever Ronald, and right now I'm seriously considering if I want to even be friends with you anymore! You belittle everything that is important to me, you insult me, you abandon Harry and call him a cheat without even listening to him, and then you have the gall to accuse Harry of entering to get closer to Fleur! Harry could get a girlfriend without entering himself in some stupid tournament, because Harry is a nice person who isn't a selfish, stupid arse like you!" screamed Hermione, her anger apparent by the magic flaring up all around her, causing Ron to take a step back in fear of Hermione's wrath. "Jesse is nice, caring, funny and sweet. At least I'm not an inbred Pureblood whose family tree is more twisted than a slinky!" and with that, Hermione stalked away. Jesse gave Ron a cold look before going after Hermione. Harry just stared at Ron like he was an idiot.

"Ron, don't talk to me again until you apologise. For what you said to Hermione and for what you said about Fleur. Until you can get that stick removed from your arse and apologise, I can't consider you my friend," said Harry coldly, before also walking off towards the gardens outside. Fleur had to hold herself back from frying the stupid boy, settling for glaring at him angrily for ruining the night, before taking after Harry. Ron was stewing in his anger at his former friends, when he heard the ominous cracking of knuckles. Ron turned around, only to find Alicia, Angelina and Katie towering over him, their eyes seemed to have turned red and glowing, as they cracked their knuckles.

"You just ruined not only our night, but our little brother's night with your petulant moaning and bitching. Here comes the pain!" said the girls in eerie unison, before they pounced. Fred, George and Neville looked on, wondering what the girls were doing, as their forms blocked out the screaming boy, though for some reason they found that they weren't particularly worried for his safety, since they all felt like pounding him for what he had said. When the girls stepped back, Fred, George, Neville and all the onlookers almost died of laughter, putting a temporary halt to the dancing as the students all fell to the floor laughing. Had McGonagall not heard what the redhead had said to his friends, she might have gone to sort it out, but found she was having trouble breathing from trying not to laugh.

"Should I go and sort it out, Headmaster?" asked McGonagall, trying not to crack a smile.

"I've gone temporary blind and haven't the foggiest what everybody is laughing at Minerva," said Dumbledore, staring straight ahead, twiddling his thumbs, though the Transfiguration professor could tell that he was grinning like a loon under his beard. "But for some reason I suddenly find an insane urge to laugh, an urge I think many others are feeling, so if you too feel that urge, do follow it, you might break a rib trying not to," finished Dumbledore, as Flitwick rolled across the floor laughing, while Sprout was slumped across a table wheezing with some Hufflepuffs. The imposter Moody was on the floor, clutching his chest as he laughed silently, struggling to breathe. Even Snape had cracked a smirk at the redhead's misfortune.

Harry was leaning his head on his hand as he sat on a bench in the gardens. The gardens had been fitted with warming charms, so that the students could walk together without being hindered by the cold, but Harry had barely taken notice, and was instead trying not to blow things up. Suddenly, a warm pair of slender arms encircled Harry on his right, causing him to look up into Alicia's face.

"Hey Harry, what's wrong" she asked gently, sitting down next to him.

"It's Ron. He was my first friend, and now it's like I don't even know who he is anymore," said Harry glumly.

"That's not what's bothering you though, is it?" said Alicia softly, causing Harry to look at her in confusion.

"How did you know that" he asked.

"Come on Harry," she replied, grinning at him. "Give big sis Alicia some credit," she said cheekily. Harry gave her a weak smile, before it dropped and he looked down at the ground.

"It's Fleur. I... I really like her, and... Well, with what Ron said about her, I..." Harry couldn't get the words out. Alicia pulled Harry to her chest, enveloping him in a warm hug.

"Oh Harry, nobody will blame you for what Ron said. And if she does, then she's obviously not worth my cute little brother," said Alicia gently, kissing is forehead. Harry smiled at her, hugging her back.

"Thank you Alicia. I don't know what I did to be blessed with a big sister like you," he said. Alicia smiled, as she got up to leave, having noticed Fleur approaching quietly.

"I'll see you back in there later Harry," she said, smiling once more before she started heading back. She put her arm out to stop the Beauxbatons champion momentarily, said champion raising her eyebrow in question.

"That boy is very dear to not just me, but a select few who are lucky enough to be called 'sister' by Harry. I love Harry, and if you break his heart, I'll break your face, fire throwing Veela or not," said Alicia with passion. Fleur smiled brightly at the girl.

"I would never do anyzing to urt Arry, but eet is good to see e has a caring and loving big sister to elp im," said Fleur, getting a satisfied smile from Alicia.

"Damn straight," she said simply, before walking back into the hall. Fleur walked over to where Alicia had sat, wrapping her arms around Harry, who looked up in surprise.

"Arry, do not blame yourself for Ronald's words, I do not care what e says, only what you say," said Fleur gently. "I ave ad a wonderful night wiz you Arry, you made it so much better zan ze last time, I only wish I had gone wiz you the first time," she said, smiling softly at him.

"You really mean that?" said Harry uncertainly, a spark of hope in his eyes. Fleur knew that Harry's relatives had never loved him as a family should, and that he would always be sensitive and doubtful of the word love.

"Yes Arry, I truly do," replied Fleur, gazing into his emerald green eyes. The two stared at each other for a moment, green eyes gazing into sky blue eyes, before both sets of eyes closed slowly, as the two champions moved closer together, their lips finally touching in a gentle, yet heartfelt kiss.

As the two champions kissed, Alicia, Katie and Angelina cooed softly from behind the rosebush.

"I'm so happy for him," sniffed Angelina, while Katie nodded earnestly as she and Alicia hugged each other.

"Couldn't be prouder of him, he's a real champion now," agreed Fred, as George proudly nodded. Hermione was crying tears of joy, happy for her friend, while Jesse smiled. Neville was happy for his friend, who had suffered far too much, now finding love for the first time, while Madison was also cooing with the Chasers, saying how cute they were together. Cedric and Krum were both proud of their fellow champions, and happy for both of them, though it didn't stop them from taking a picture of the two for in case they ever needed it. Luna and Cho were both smiling too, evidently happy for the young man. Most of the women then blushed and looked away, after the kiss turned much more passionate, evident by several moans from the new couple. Other than Fred and George, who were smirking and whooping, Alicia who was grinning like a loon, and Jesse who looked torn between fascination and looking awkward.

"Jeez, it's lucky we put up Silencing Charms so they wouldn't know we were here, right Gred?" said George, still grinning at the passionate couple.

"Too right uglier brother, if they had caught us, no telling where the lovely lady may have put her fireballs," replied Fred, as both twins winced at the thought of fire on such a sensitive area.

"They're so sweet together, I can almost hear wedding bells!" squealed Alicia, which made the rest of the girls squeal in excitement.

"You go little bro!" cheered Katie, as Neville pointed at the two.

"If they don't stop soon, they may have a kid before they have a marriage," Neville pointed out, seeing where their hands were, making all the girls blush once more, with Hermione putting her hands over her eyes in embarrassment.

"As they say, 'safety first, wear a helmet'," said Luna dreamily. A long, awkward silence followed this.

The two champion's lips seemed to match perfectly, as they put all their feelings into the one kiss. Slowly, their lips moved together against one another, as Harry put his arms around Fleur's waist and in her long, silvery hair, while Fleur looped her arms around his neck. Soon, Fleur licked Harry's lips, asking permission to enter his mouth, which opened immediately, causing a wave of physical pleasure to hit both teens. They moved together in rhythm, holding each other close as their tongues rubbed against one another, causing Harry and Fleur to moan against each other's lips. Fleur twisted her hand in Harry's hair, pushing him as close to her as he could go, as Harry started kissing and suckling Fleur's beautiful neck, making her moan.

"I think that everybody has forgotten that while a Silencing Charm makes us unable to hear them, they aren't doing a very good job of hiding themselves from sight," whispered Harry to Fleur, having seen their friends in the bushes.

"Zen why don't we show zem somezing more exciting?" breathed Fleur, pulling Harry back to her lips, as the kiss became even more passionate. Fleur inwardly grinned, as she heard several 'eeps' from the girls, though outwardly she was moaning at the work of Harry's lips. She trailed a hand from his neck down to his chest, opening his robes enough to run her fingers along his bare chest, which made Harry gasp in pleasure. Fleur gasped as well, when Harry cupped her rear softly, giving it a gentle squeeze. They broke apart for air, breathing heavily; they're eyes never leaving one another. Fleur softly leaned her head against Harry's chest, her eyes closing and a smile forming on her face.

"I love you Arry, I know zis now, and I never want to let you go," she whispered to him, as his arms wrapped around him gently.

"Fleur, if you can put up with me, I'm all yours," Said Harry, kissing her forehead gently. Fleur kissed him tenderly on the lips, before standing and pulling him up as well.

"Come on, I zink that out friends will be wondering where we ave gone," said Fleur overly loud, making Harry grin as he heard the soft footsteps of a large group of people hurrying back to the hall. Harry wrapped his arm around Fleur's slim waist, while she wrapped her arms around his free arm, as they walked back into the hall together.

Harry and Fleur walked back into the hall, confused to see that everybody was pointing and laughing at something. They made their way to the point of interest and their jaws dropped. A crib was sitting in the middle of the space with several toys and rattles sitting in it, alongside a fat redhead baby with a dummy in his mouth. The child in question looked severely angry and was waving a rattle furiously at people. A note was stuck to his crib that said 'I'm a petulant whiny baby, hear me roar'. One look was easily enough to tell Harry that Ron had been taken care of for the night. He mentally went through everything they had done together, as well as everything he had said about both him and Hermione tonight, before making his decision, bursting into hysterical laughter alongside Fleur, who was already on the ground holding her ribs. Harry and Fleur eventually pulled each other up off the ground and headed back to their table, where their friends sat, trying to look innocent. Deciding to ignore it for now, Harry grinned at the twins.

"Your work?" he asked, gesturing to the crib where Ron the baby sat, still being laughed at by the entire student body. Harry was surprised when the twins grinned and shook their heads.

"Behold, the masters of this ingenious payback!" announced the twins, gesturing to Alicia, Angelina and Katie, before getting down on their hands and knees and bowing repeatedly to the girls as though they were gods.

"Thank you, thank you," said Katie, taking a bow as a mass of cheering shot up from the onlookers. Alicia and Angelina also followed suit, bowing to the crowd as well.

"It was worth the detention we're bound to get," smirked Angelina, who got nods from the other two girls.

"I didn't hear any sort of confessions," squeaked a gasping Flitwick, smirking as the crowd grinned.

The dance was slowly finishing up now, as more and more people left. Ron had been eventually changed back, though he had been immediately sent back to his dorm for attempting to disturb the night and making a fool of himself in front of the guests. Harry and Fleur sat together, talking to Krum and Cedric, as Krum explained why he went with Luna.

"I saw her valking down the hallvay and she said something about Nargles hanging above me. Ve got to talking, since so many of the creatures she described I had never heard of before. Eventually I asked her to the dance, since I had not yet asked anybody i liked," explained Krum, who looked fondly over at Luna, who was talking to Hermione, who was smiling as the girl talked about Aquavirus Maggots that apparently hid in the Black Lake in the grounds.

"I have to say, I wasn't expecting that, but good on you Viktor," said Harry, as everybody came over to the table.

"Harrikins, I do believe the dance is wrapping up-" started Fred.

"So if you have anything else you wanted to do tonight-"continued George.

"You should probably share now," they ended together.

"Merlin stop, I'm getting whiplash!" said Cedric, while everybody else laughed.

"Actually, Cedric, Viktor and I have one last surprise, but we'll have to get somewhere high to see it," said Harry, eliciting interested looks from everybody, though Krum smirked.

"Have you been getting high vithout us Harry?" he teased, getting laughs from everybody, Harry included.

"Nope, we're saving that for the Third Task, imagine how cool the stuff in the maze would look after some pot," grinned Cedric, causing everybody to imagine the scenarios, before they all burst out laughing again.

"Ok then, shall we go up to the Astronomy Tower then?" asked Angelina, getting nods from everybody, as they set off for a walk up to the tower. Along the way, Harry spied Malfoy having an argument with Pansy Parkinson, and decided to have just a little more fun. After whispering his plans to the twins, they began working their magic.

"Why weren't you paying attention to me tonight Draco? You spent more time glaring at Potter and drooling over that French witch than you did dancing with me!" shouted Pansy, feeling like her night had been ruined.

"It's not like you didn't have fun dancing with those boys from Durmstrang, at least I didn't dance with other women!" yelled Draco.

"Don't even try lying to me Draco Malfoy!" screamed Pansy. "I saw you dance with at least six other women, so don't even try and lie to me!" Both were red in the face and panting, before they noticed the hallway was deserted, and there was an eerie fog creeping around them. Suddenly, they both jumped when there was the sound of moaning coming from all around them. Malfoy however, rolled his eyes when he saw one of the Inferi creatures that Potter and his friends had danced as at the ball. Malfoy would never admit that he had also danced with the other zombies.

"Nice try Potter, you're not scaring anyone!" drawled Malfoy, striding forward to teach 'Potter' a lesson. Meanwhile, Pansy had looked behind her and had seen the Weasley twins and a heap of Gryffindors with their fingers pressed to their lips. Getting the signal, Pansy shrugged, deciding to see how it turned out. Malfoy strode up, before punching the zombie squarely in the nose, causing its entire head to snap back, shocking the Malfoy scion. The zombie groped about for its head before pulling it back into position. The zombie gave the horrified Malfoy a grin, before raising its hand, which had a cluster of black hair in it, the head of Harry Potter attached to it. The head suddenly looked in his direction, giving him a feral grin, causing the Malfoy heir to let out a girlish shriek of terror. He turned around, only to see Pansy's body being dragged away, her head removed as well. Malfoy was shaking in fright, before he gave a scream and tried to run for it, only to be blocked by another cluster of zombies.

"BOO!" they all shouted, causing Malfoy to scream and faint. The group fell to the floor laughing; Pansy included who seemed to be crying in mirth, the ugly look on her face gone. She was actually a rather pretty girl, now that the pug look was gone.

"Ok, ok, ok, who bet he would scream?" Cedric choked out, still grinning ear to ear.

"I had my money on 'pissed himself'' giggle Alicia, while Katie and Angelina picked themselves up off the floor.

"Hang on," said Harry, looking over Malfoy. "Looks like everyone's a winner," he announced, getting cheers from everybody. Even Pansy hadn't bet that he wouldn't be scared by it.

"Thanks guys that was actually hilarious!" smiled Pansy gratefully, while the rest smiled back. "It really cheered me up for the night."

"Come with us, maybe it'll make the night?" offered Harry. Pansy smiled and shook her head.

"Thanks Harry, but I should be getting back, it's late. And I can't be hanging out with Gryffindor's, I have a reputation to uphold you know," she grinned, before writing something on a piece of parchment, sticking it to the unconscious Draco's forehead and skipping off down the hallway.

"I didn't know you two got along," said Hermione, surprised that Harry seemed to have befriended Pansy Parkinson of all people.

"Met her in the library a few weeks ago, helped her out with Defence homework, we got talking, found we had a few things in common," Harry shrugged.

"What's the note say?" asked the twins. Everybody peered at the note on Draco's forehead, before falling apart laughing once more, setting off for the Astronomy Tower once more.

"Grocery List:

One Brain: Current one appears to be faulty"

Harry and the others eventually reached the Astronomy Tower, where he conjured couches and armchairs for everybody, before sending clicking the small device he had brought with him to the dance, and shouting out a spell.

"Hoshi Furu Yoru Ni!" intoned Harry, sending a shower of bright, white lights into the sky, reminiscent of shooting stars. The lights split into well over a hundred and began changing colours, before suddenly, several of them burst into bright, colourful explosions, lighting up the sky.

"Fireworks!" squealed the Chasers excitedly.

"They'll keep going for about ten minutes. My gift to everybody," smiled Harry, as everybody sat back, watching the fireworks display. Hermione was cuddled up to Jesse, the rest of the Quidditch team huddled up together, Neville and Madison watching it with their arms around each other, Luna watching the bright lights happily with a smiling Krum, Cedric and Cho watching together with soft smiles of contentment on their faces, and finally Harry himself, his arms around Fleur as they sat together, watching the night of falling stars together.

"Merry Christmas Arry," whispered Fleur, as she kissed him softly on the lips making Harry smile.

"Merry Christmas Fleur," he whispered back, his fingers entwined with hers, as they watched the display together. Yes, it truly was a very merry Christmas.

* * *

Woohoo! Another chapter down and Harry and Fleur's first kiss! Hope it was done well enough, not much practice myself, I'm quite the ugly bloke, so I had to guess more or less. Next chapter, not actually very sure, but possibly the prelude to, AND the Second Task: Take Two, though don't hold me to that. Please give some of your praise to Katzztar, the author who gave me the idea of turning Ron into a baby, hopefully you enjoyed that my friend, that idea i give all credit to Katzztar, thank you sir.

Will be enjoying myself in Paris soon, won't be posting again till I'm back home, which i expect will be early November, so no updates till then I'm afraid. Hope everybody enjoyed the chapter, and thanks again to all the willing translators, you guys are the best!

Ciao for now


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